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Liberals will form the next government – New Tecumseth-Gwillimbury remains blue

May 1, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

Conservative incumbent, Scot Davidson, has retained his seat in federal parliament after winning the riding of New Tecumseth-Gwillimbury with 59 per cent of the popular vote in the federal election on April 28.

Davidson previously represented the riding of York-Simcoe. He became the candidate for New Tecumseth-Gwillimbury when the riding boundaries were changed last year, creating the new electoral district which includes Alliston, Beeton, Tottenham, Bradford West-Gwillimbury, and Bradford East Gwillimbury. 

This is the fourth time Davidson has been elected to parliament since winning a by-election in 2019. He won his seat by a large margin in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections.

The Liberal Party of Canada will form the next federal government with Mark Carney at the helm. However, as of press time, it was unclear whether the Liberals would form a majority. Elections Canada decided early on Tuesday to pause the counting of special ballots with a handful of ridings still too close to call.

The Liberals were elected in 168 seats. The Conservatives were close behind with 144 seats, at the time of print. The Block Québécois won 23 seats. The NDP won 7. The Green Party of Canada won a single seat.

Newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney easily won the riding of Nepean with 44,980 votes and 64 per cent of the popular vote. 

The election was a huge comeback for the Liberals. Earlier in the year, the polls indicated that Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives had a 20 per cent lead over the Liberals and were on track for a majority. 

Carney managed to turn that around by instilling confidence in his abilities in many Canadians to respond to Donald Trump’s tariffs and comments about making Canada “The 51st State.” Carney’s talk of unification under difficult circumstances helped him rally support.

The election has also resulted in disaster for two party leaders.

Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre lost his seat in Carleton, which he previously held for 20 years, to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. Fanyjoy received 42,374, over Poilievre’s 38,581.

Poilievre has not yet announced if he will stay on as party leader.

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh announced he is stepping down as party leader after losing his own seat in his British Columbia riding. Singh garnered only 20 per cent of the vote trailing behind both Conservative and Liberal candidates.

The NDP managed to win only 7 seats in the election meaning they will likely lose official party status. Some political experts predict the NDP is about to fade into history.

In the riding of New Tecumseth-Gwillimbury, Elections Canada provides the final tally on voting numbers:

Scot Davidson, Conservative – 39,000

Mike Hanrahan, Liberal – 24,182

Nancy Morrison, NDP – 1,209

Callum McKinnon, Green Party – 708

Paul Montague, People’s Party – 493

Davidson celebrated his victory with a small number of campaign volunteers, family, and supporters at Perfect SZN restaurant in Bradford, who gathered to watch the election results.

As the numbers came in, it was apparent that Davidson was leading by a wide margin.

“I have to thank all of our volunteers here tonight,” Davidson told his supporters after it became obvious he had won the election. “We connected with people, and that’s what being a member of parliament is all about. I’ve always looked at the seat in Ottawa as the people’s seat. It doesn’t matter whether you live in Beeton, Alliston, Tottenham, Sharon, Queensville, or Bradford, we are going to fight for every constituent, every last person. I always say my office – my door is like the church, it’s open to everyone. It’s an honour to represent the people. I’ve always taken the approach to assemble a great team, and get out and earn every vote.”

The country faces some challenges over the next few years, and Davidson expanded on what he and his party would like to achieve while addressing those challenges.

“I like to be able to work across party lines to get things done,” Davidson explained. “There are a lot of policy that Canadians disagree with, with the Liberals. It’s a long list, and those are issues I will still be bringing. One thing is the carbon tax. No one here got the rural top-up that they were entitled to. Now the CRA is coming after them, it’s crazy. This government, the Liberals, they love to divide Canadians. We’re going to be there as the official opposition, and our job is to hold the government to account and make it the best it can be.”

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