Ontario election 2014: Liberals ride GTA strength to majority

The Liberals have taken new territory across Toronto paving the way for a return to power, as amajority government, for the party that has led the province for more than a decade.

The Liberals have retaken Etobicoke-Lakeshore, the west-end riding they lost to the Tories in a recentbyelection, with the defeat of incumbent and former Toronto deputy mayorDoug Holydayby Peter Milczyn.

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Holyday took the riding fromMilczyn just last year, but this time trailed his Liberal rival by some 6,000 votes.

The Tories held their other Toronto-area riding, Thornhill, north of the city,with incumbent Gila Martownarrowly beating Liberal Sandra Yeung Raccoon a recount.

The Conservative stronghold Whitby-Oshawa, well to the east of the city, also went to the Torieswith party deputy leader Christine Elliott handily defeating Liberal AjayKrishnam.

The results shut the Tories out of Toronto proper, and almost all of the surrounding area. The Liberals also swept through much of Hamilton andBurlington, though the Tories ended the night with seats in rural ridings to the west of Hamilton.

The Liberals were left tofight it out with theNDPfor a handful ofridingsalong Toronto's south side.

The Liberals took the downtown riding of Davenport and, in neighbouring Trinity-Spadina, unseated longtimeNDPincumbent RosarioMarchese, where Liberal challenger Han Dongwon bya margin of some 8,400 votes.

The Liberals and NDP continued to fight well past midnight forBeaches-East York, though Liberal challenger Arthur Potts eventually managed to unseat incumbent Michael Prue.

An equally close race inParkdale-High Park sawCheri DiNovo hold the riding for the NDP.

The NDP also held on to Toronto-Danforth, where Peter Tabuns was returned to office for the fourth time, leaving the party with just two ridings in the city itself, down from the five it held when the Legislature was dissolved.TheNDPalso heldBramalea-Gore-Malton, west of the city.

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The Liberals painted the cityand its suburbsred in the 2011 provincial electionceding only a handful ofridingsin downtown Toronto to theNDPand one,Thornhill, north of the city, to the PCs.

TheGTAis the home base of Liberal Leader KathleenWynne, who has represented the affluent riding of Don Valley West since 2003, and several of her cabinet members including BradDuguid, most recently minister of training, colleges and universities, and Glen Murray, minister of infrastructure and transportation.

Wynne was re-elected in her riding.Duguid and Murray won in Scarborough Centre and Toronto Centre, respectively.

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Other notable Liberalsin the area who were returned to officeinclude one-time leadership hopeful Eric Hoskinsin St. Paul's, and DavidZimmer, the incumbent inWillowdaleand most recently the minister of aboriginal affairs.