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No winner declared as ballot protest slows vote counting in Toronto byelection

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TORONTO – It is an urban Toronto seat that has been a virtual cakewalk for the federal Liberals for 30 years and a riding they should not have had to work that hard to win again in a byelection Monday.

But the Liberals’ poor showing in Toronto — St. Paul’s — they were ahead almost the entire night but by slim margins — will not be the only talked about political story around parliamentary water coolers Tuesday.

The other big talker is the ballot protest by a group trying to draw attention to the weaknesses of a first-past-the-post voting system, which stymied poll workers who had to open thousands of ballots containing 84 names that were each nearly a metre long and individually folded up like an old-school map.

With the logistics of counting every ballot by hand, the results trickled in slower than a sloth on his way to Sunday dinner.

Former Liberal chief of staff Leslie Church appeared to be nearing victory in the wee hours of the morning Tuesday, ahead of her Conservative challenger Don Stewart.

“We are feeling great about the result,” Church said at her campaign party in a neighbourhood bar around 12:30 a.m. to the delight of her supporters who chanted her name and shouted, “Call the race.”

But she did not.

“We’re not quite there yet,” she said.

While her Liberal colleagues lauded her as a great candidate with deep political experience as a chief of staff to multiple cabinet ministers, the campaign brought challenges, not the least of which was a cranky electorate that had lost patience with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Toronto-St. Paul’s, in the city’s midtown area, includes some of Toronto’s wealthiest addresses as well as an above-average number of renters, and one of the largest concentrations of Jewish voters in the country.

Rising rents and the Israel-Hamas war played particularly big roles in the campaign and despite nine months of campaigning, Church seemed on track for the worst Liberal showing in the riding since the 1980s.

Carolyn Bennett, the former Liberal cabinet minister whose resignation in January triggered this byelection, won the seat nine times for the Liberals, and all but once by more than 20 percentage points.

Leslie was ahead of Stewart by less than four points around 1:30 a.m. At that point, about one-third of the 192 polls still had to report results, including more than 10,000 votes cast in advance polls which are typically counted last.

Before the polls closed five hours earlier, Elections Canada warned things were going to move slowly. They were not kidding.

The protest group Longest Ballot Committee stacked the ballot with more than 75 independents, almost half of whom ran a year ago in a Winnipeg riding to make the same protest.

While the final votes were cast at 8:30 p.m., not a single result was reported for more than an hour.

Elections Canada spokesman Matthew McKenna said things were just progressing very slowly and was not aware of any issues with the ballots other than their unusual length.

The glacial pace of counting outlasted the Stanley Cup final hockey game by hours.

Stewart’s campaign party at a Jewish restaurant in the riding largely wrapped up after he made an appearance around 11:30 p.m., not conceding though not looking particularly buoyant about the results either.

“Let’s not give it up,” he said, with middling levels of enthusiasm, before reciting Leader Pierre Poilievre’s alphabet soup slogan.

“Axe the tax, build the homes, fix the budget, stop the crime,” he said, drawing big cheers.

The count even outlasted the CBC, whose live stream with host David Cochrane ran a heroic four hours long without commercial breaks. But finally, they too threw in the towel when it appeared it would be hours more before a winner could be declared.

Church showed up at her campaign party to thank her volunteers and supporters at the four-hour point, which unlike Stewart’s remained full of lively supporters.

“We love you Leslie,” one shouted, as she took the small stage to thank everyone for their patience. Then sent her people home too.

The riding is considered to be a must-win for Trudeau, whose government has flailed in the polls for more than a year and now trails Poilievre and the Conservatives by more than 20 points.

Conservatives downplayed their chances leading into the vote — longtime strategist and informal adviser to Poilievre Jenni Byrne told the CBC they had no chance to win before a single result was reported.

But they will see the result as a win even without Stewart being sworn in as an MP. The Conservatives haven’t won a single riding in Toronto proper riding since 2011, with the Liberals sweeping the city in 2015, 2019 and 2021.

To come this close in a riding the Liberals haven’t lost since 1988, is a big boost of steam.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2024.

-By Mia Rabson in Ottawa and Sheila Reid in Toronto.

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S&P/TSX composite index gains more than 350 points, U.S. stock markets also rise

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TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index gained more than 350 points Thursday in a broad rally led by energy and technology stocks, while U.S. markets also rose, led by a one-per-cent gain on the Dow. 

The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 354.22 points at 25,390.68.

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 461.88 points at 43,870.35. The S&P 500 index was up 31.60 points at 5,948.71, while the Nasdaq composite was up 6.28 points at 18,972.42.

The Nasdaq lagged an otherwise decent day for Wall St., rising just 0.03 per cent as it was dragged down by Google parent Alphabet and some of its tech giant peers. 

The tech company’s stock fell 4.6 per cent after U.S. regulators asked a judge to break it up by forcing a sale of the Chrome web browser. 

Amazon shares traded down 2.2 per cent while Meta and Apple both moved lower as well. 

After a substantial run for major tech stocks this year, that kind of news “shakes people a bit,” said John Zechner, chairman and lead equity manager at J. Zechner Associates.

Meanwhile, semiconductor giant Nvidia saw its stock tick up modestly by 0.5 per cent after it reported earnings Wednesday evening.

The company yet again beat expectations for profit and revenue, and gave a better revenue forecast for the current quarter than expected. 

But expectations for Nvidia have been so high amid the optimism over artificial intelligence that even beating forecasts wasn’t enough to send its stock flying the way it has in previous quarters, said Zechner. 

Nvidia essentially caps earnings season in the U.S., with companies largely beating expectations, said Zechner — though those expectations weren’t exactly lofty for companies outside the tech and AI sphere, he added. 

The Dow led major U.S. markets as the post-election hopes for economic growth continued to fuel a broadening of market strength, said Zechner. 

There are a lot of unknowns when it comes to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump, said Zechner, and there’s no guarantee he will do what he’s promised.

“There’s a lot of unknowns, but for now the markets seem to be assuming that whatever comes of this, the U.S. will continue to lead global growth,” he said. 

However, some of Trump’s promises — chief among them widespread tariffs on imports — have sparked bets that inflation may rear its head again.

The market has pared back its expectations for interest rate cuts as a result, said Zechner. 

“Nobody’s talking about a half-point cut, that’s for sure,” he said. 

The Canadian dollar traded for 71.63 cents US compared with 71.46 cents US on Wednesday.

The January crude oil contract was up US$1.35 at US$70.10 per barrel and the January natural gas contract was up nine cents at US$3.48 per mmBTU.

The December gold contract was up US$23.20 at US$2,674.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was down three cents at US$4.13 a pound.

— With files from The Associated Press

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.

Companies in this story: (TSX:GSPTSE, TSX:CADUSD) 

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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Halifax security forum gathers as Trump’s support for Taiwan, Ukraine in question

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HALIFAX – Uncertainty is a key theme this year at the annual, three-day gathering in Halifax of political leaders, defence officials and policy analysts who aim to promote democratic values around the globe. 

The 300 delegates from 60 countries will take part in the Halifax International Security Forum, which begins Friday, less than three weeks after Donald Trump’s United States presidential election victory — a result that has raised questions about U.S. military support for the threatened democracies of Ukraine and Taiwan.

Over the past two years, Trump has repeatedly taken issue with the almost $60 billion in assistance to Ukraine provided by U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration, and he’s made vague vows to end the war. The president-elect has also been unclear if his upcoming administration would defend Taiwan in the event of an invasion by China, and has suggested the self-governed island “should pay us for defence.”

Peter Van Praagh, president of the forum, said in an interview Wednesday that in November 2016 — after Trump’s first ascent to the White House — there was “a level of shock that this could happen,” but he said this year shock has been replaced with a feeling of incertitude.

“One of the things that the president-elect Trump brings to the table is a level of uncertainty …. Now everybody is looking to reduce that uncertainty and get some type of clarity on what his priorities will be,” he said.

Van Praagh expects the speakers at the 16th forum will present evidence justifying why the Trump administration must continue Biden’s financial and military support for Ukraine, arguing that the security of democracies around the globe depends on it.

He said he’s pleased former Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen will deliver a speech Saturday, which is expected to emphasize how U.S. support for Ukraine is crucial to the security of her country and its democracy.

Tsai left office in May. During her two terms in office she came under frequent attack from China for her refusal to recognize Beijing’s claim of sovereignty over the island.

Van Praagh said the politician — who remains an influential figure in the ruling Democratic Progressive Party — is expected to describe how the threat from China isn’t isolated from the conflict in Central Europe. “All of these things are connected. Ukrainian security is connected with security in eastern Asia,” he said. 

Van Praagh said he hopes speakers at the forum help to influence members of the U.S. congressional delegation on the importance of backing Taiwan and Ukraine.

In 2016, former Republican Sen. John McCain was a prominent and influential figure in Washington, and he regularly attended the Halifax security forum — bringing the ideas he heard back to the Senate. An award has been given out in his name at the forum each year since he died in 2018.

This year, two Republican senators, James Risch of Idaho — who may chair the influential foreign relations committee after Trump takes office — and Mike Rounds from South Dakota are attending as part of the U.S. congressional delegation, along with four Democratic Party senators.

“These guys not only have a say, they have a vote,” said Van Praagh.

Risch will be a speaker at the opening session of the conference on Friday, along with Democratic Party Sen. Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire, as they discuss America’s role in the world. The opening day will also hear from Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, who will sit on a panel titled “Victory in Ukraine” alongside Rounds.

Other invited guests include Gen. Jennie Carignan, head of the Canadian Armed Forces, who will sit on a panel with U.S. Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific command, and Andrew Shearer, director of Australia’s Office of National Intelligence, on Saturday.

Many of the events over the forum’s three days, including a plenary session on threats to the Canadian Arctic from Russia and China, tie back to the conflict in Ukraine, and to whether Western democracies should continue to back the country.

“Should we succeed in Ukraine and push Russia out of Ukraine, every other international challenge becomes easier,” Van Praagh said. “If Russia succeeds, everything becomes more difficult.”

“The alternative is chaos and more war.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.



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50-50 chance: After tie vote, Cape Breton-area councillor to be chosen by random draw

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HALIFAX – It will be the luck of the draw that chooses the next councillor for a district in northern Cape Breton after two candidates earned the same number of votes in a recent municipal election.

Amy MacKinnon and Wanda Hennick both received 145 votes on Oct. 19 in the district that includes the Victoria County communities of Dingwall, Aspy Bay and Bay St. Lawrence. To break the tie, the winner will be chosen on Friday by random draw — a selection process stipulated in the Nova Scotia Municipal Elections Act.

Hennick said the voting results were a “shock” to everyone in the district. The random draw is undemocratic, she said, and makes some people in her district feel like their votes won’t count. The winner should be determined in a byelection, she added.

“I’m not happy about it,” she said in an interview. “We owe our constituents an actual election. They didn’t vote to have someone’s name pulled out of a box. If that was the case, why didn’t they do that from the beginning? They feel like their votes were taken from them.”

MacKinnon couldn’t be immediately reached for comment.

Each province has its own rules about what to do if a municipal election ends in a tie. Newfoundland and Labrador and New Brunswick follow the same procedure as Nova Scotia. In Prince Edward Island, a coin-flip determines the winner, while in Ontario, the deciding vote is cast by the returning officer. 

Blair Gallop, Victoria County’s returning officer, says the Oct. 19 election isn’t the only time a tie has been recorded in Nova Scotia municipal politics; in 1979, Harvey Lewis became mayor of Louisbourg after his name was picked from a hat.

Hennick said she will travel to Sydney, N.S., for the recount, though she initially thought about boycotting it. Regardless of Friday’s outcome, she thinks her district will be in good hands. 

“It’s 50-50. We’re both strong women in this district and we do a lot for our community here, so I feel confident if I don’t get (elected), the district is going to be looked after very well with Amy. If I win, then perfect.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 21, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.



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