Milton’s byelection Thursday is shaping up to be a close one with the PC candidate slightly ahead of the Liberal candidate as ballots are counted following polls closing at 9 p.m.
Shortly after 9 p.m., about 70 per cent of the polls were reporting that PC candidate Zee Hamid had 47 per cent of the vote, amounting to 8,439 ballots. He is 1,768 ballots ahead of Liberal candidate Galen Naidoo Harris who sits at 6,671 votes.
CBC Toronto will be following the results and providing updates throughout the night.
The riding west of Mississauga has been vacant since February, when then-PC MPP Parm Gill left his post to join the federal Conservative Party of Canada.
The candidates in Milton for the four parties with seats in the legislature are:
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Zee Hamid for the Progressive Conservatives.
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Kyle Hutton for the Ontario Greens.
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Galen Naidoo Harris for the Liberals.
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Edie Strachan for the NDP.
The byelection in Milton is being watched as a potential litmus test for Premier Doug Ford and his government as strategists told CBC Toronto this week it could indicate what challenges are ahead for the next provincial election in 2026.
The race is expected to be close between the Liberal and Conservative candidates, strategists with each party told CBC Toronto.
Preliminary figures from Elections Ontario show that 6,511 voters cast their ballot in advance, which makes up 6.6 per cent of registered voters in Milton. In comparison, 11,520 voters, making up 12.6 per cent of registered voters, voted before polling day during the 2022 general election.
One Milton resident Augustin Gahungu spoke to CBC Toronto as he headed into a poll to vote. He said transit accessibility is a major issue in the town, and not enough trains run to Milton outside of work hours.
“As long as the party in power can do that, I’m OK with that. It’s not ideology, it’s what you get from the party,” he said.
Milton is one of two Ontario ridings where voters are heading to the polls Thursday. Residents in Lambton-Kent-Middlesex in southwestern Ontario will also be electing a new MPP. That riding has been left vacant since September when MPP Monte McNaughton left politics.
This story will be updated as results come in.