Four days after the election campaign ended, the Ontario PC party is sending unsolicited text messages asking people whether they support some of premier-designate Doug Ford's key promises. The text messages refer to "Premier Ford" although he does not officially hold that position until June 29, when he and his cabinet are set to be sworn in. "Hi, this is Sophie from the Ontario PC Party," begin the messages, sent Monday morning and Sunday evening. "Do you agree Premier Ford should fire the $6 million CEO of Hydro One?" asks one message. "Do you support Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario PC plan to scrap the carbon tax?" asks another. "Please reply: #Yes #No #Unsure," the messages continue. The texts also give the recipient the option to stop receiving messages from the PC party by texting "STOP". A screenshot of a text message received Sunday evening by Charles Crosbie of Ottawa. The party used text messages like this throughout the campaign to try to obtain direct contact information for likely PC voters. The texts do not violate any Canadian rules because political parties are exempt from the national "Do Not Call" list. "The Ontario PC Party continues to connect with our grassroots using social media and text messaging," said communications director Jeff Silverstein in an email to CBC News. "It is important for the party to use every opportunity to stay connected with Ontarians throughout our mandate. We are fully compliant with the rules." However, the messages are irking some. "I was quite confused as to why I was getting it," said Charles Crosbie, who received a text from the PCs Sunday evening on his personal cell. "The election is over. I'm not signed up to receive messaging from any party. It just seemed like blanketed spam." "It feels like an invasion of my privacy," said Rebecca Osolone in an email Monday to CBC Toronto. "I don't know how they got my number. I do not think they should be able to text me like this. I do not support the PC party."<doc-sep>Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives won Thursday's election in Ontario thanks to significant increases in support across the province. But the Greater Toronto Area played the biggest part in pushing the party over the top. It was also the GTA that kept the New Democrats from making the breakthrough the party was looking for. With 40.6 per cent of the vote, the Progressive Conservatives won 76 seats — well above the 63-seat threshold needed for a majority government and the most seats the party has won since Mike Harris's victory in 1995. Andrea Horwath's NDP had a strong showing by the standards of the party. The NDP and its Co-operative Commonwealth Federation predecessor had only formed the Official Opposition in the province four times previously — and only twice captured more than 30 per cent of the vote. With 33.7 per cent and 40 seats, Horwath is responsible for the NDP's second best result ever. The Liberals fell to an all-time low, with just seven seats and 19.3 per cent of the vote. But the story of the PC victory was in the efficiency of the party's vote and its success in taking advantage of the Liberal collapse where it mattered most — in the seat count. Toronto, GTA gave Ford his majority Compared to where the party stood at dissolution (and taking into account the increase in the electoral map from 107 to 124 seats), the PCs gained 41 seats. Nearly all of them were won in Toronto and the surrounding suburbs. In Toronto itself, Ford's PCs picked up 10 more seats thanks to a nine percentage point increase in support. That put the party in second place in the city with 33 per cent — roughly equal to Ford's performance in the 2014 mayoral election — and allowed them to tie the NDP in total seat wins at 11. In the Greater Toronto Area, a ring of communities around the city running from Durham in the east to Halton in the west, the PCs gained 23 seats and 13 points, dominating the region with 46 per cent of the vote and 26 of the 30 seats up for grabs. The party picked up eight seats in the rest of the province, half of them in eastern Ontario. But those wins weren't needed — the seat gains in Toronto and the GTA were more than enough to secure a majority government. NDP picks up votes — but not enough seats The NDP had success in expanding its support in Toronto, finishing first with 36.5 per cent — a gain of 15 points. It's the first time the New Democrats have won the popular vote in the provincial capital since 1990. By night's end, voters in Toronto delivered nine new seats to the NDP. But the party was not able to make the same kind of breakthrough anywhere else in Ontario. 2018 Ontario election in 90 seconds CBC News Toronto 1:27 This is the 2018 Ontario election in 90 seconds. 1:27 The nine gains in Toronto matched the party's total gains in the rest of the province. Despite the NDP increasing its support provincewide by 10 percentage points — more than the PCs' nine-point gain — it was unable to turn that new enthusiasm for the party into many victories at the riding level. In Mississauga, the NDP saw its support jump by 10 points. But the PCs saw support increase by 13 points and swept the city. Both parties made a 12-point gain in Scarborough, but the PCs were rewarded with three more seats in the area, while the NDP could content itself with just one. Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath delivered the party's second-best performance in history, but New Democrats were hoping for more. (Peter Power/Canadian Press) It was the same story in Ottawa, where a 16-point bump for the New Democrats resulted in only one more seat. The PCs lost two points in the city, but matched the NDP for seat gains thanks to the fall in Liberal support. An inefficient vote for the New Democrats wasn't the only problem. The margin between the PCs and the NDP provincewide was seven points — far too wide when a victory was not even in the cards for the New Democrats had the party been tied with the PCs in the popular vote. Instead, the momentum that pushed Horwath into contention petered out by the end of the campaign. In fact, the final polls conducted in the last hours before voting began showed the New Democrats slipping back. Had the campaign ended a week earlier, the NDP might have had a better chance at winning. Liberals, Greens make different kinds of history It was always going to be a long night for the Liberals. The best-case scenario was the party holding onto eight seats — the bare minimum needed to retain official party status in the Ontario Legislature, which awards parties more resources and speaking time in question period. Though Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne, dethroned as premier, was re-elected in her own riding, the party fell one seat short of its goal and was handed its worst defeat since Confederation. It won eight seats in 1951 under Walter Thomson and 21.8 per cent in 1923 under Wellington Hay. Wynne's performance sets a new low in the historical record. The Liberals almost managed to hang on to that coveted eighth seat. Just 81 votes cost the Liberals the riding of Thunder Bay – Atikokan, votes that will prove costly when the party's budget at Queen's Park is slashed. The Ontario Liberals under Kathleen Wynne had a terrible showing, the worst since Confederation. (Tijana Martin/Canadian Press) The Green Party, on the other hand, can call it a good night even with victory in just one riding — the first seat in the province in party's history. This was an entirely local victory, however. In his second run at the riding, Green Leader Mike Schreiner was elected in Guelph with a 26-point improvement on his 2014 result. But the Greens had no other successes. Provincewide, their vote share actually fell by a tenth of a percentage point.<doc-sep>The people have spoken: Doug Ford’s Ontario PC Party has won enough seats to form a majority government. Now comes the actual governing part. Each of parties’ platforms were laid out, some in more detail than others, during the campaign and the key planks were hammered out in debates and at doors across the province. Now that voters have awarded them leadership at Queen’s Park, here is what the winning party promised all Ontarians: On taxes: Scrap cap-and-trade and challenge any carbon tax imposed by the federal government in court; cut income taxes by 20 per cent for those earning between $43,000 and $86,000; provide a 75 per cent tax credit for child care costs; and lower gasoline taxes by 10 cents per litre; On jobs: Freeze the minimum wage at $14 per hour and provide an income tax credit for minimum-wage earners; On health care: Create 15,000 new long-term care beds over the next five years and another 15,000 in 10 years to address hospitals that are over capacity and provide free dental care for low-income seniors; On education: Repeal the new sex-ed curriculum and restore the old program until it can be replaced with new lesson plans after consultation with parents; On transit: Take ownership of Toronto’s subway system and build a three-stop Scarborough subway, the Sheppard and Yonge North subway extensions and a downtown relief line; On hydro: Lower rates by 12 per cent; get rid of Hydro One president and CEO Mayo Schmidt; and cut executive salaries. Ontario PC leader Doug Ford wins a majority government. His staunch supporters praise him as a political outsider sure to shake things up at Queen's Park. (The Canadian Press) Read more: Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Doug Ford on track to be Ontario’s next premier For up-to-the-minute results, visit the Star's Ontario election page Ford defends his party’s lack of a fully costed platform Read more about:<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email It’s Doug Ford, folks. The Ontario Progressive Conservatives under Ford won a majority mandate on Thursday ending more than 15 years of Liberal rule in the province, defeating Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals and Andrea Horwath’s NDP. WATCH: 2018 Ontario election results Story continues below advertisement Ford, a former Toronto city councillor, had positioned himself from the outset of the campaign as a fiscally responsible outsider, promising to cut government waste and put money back into voters’ wallets and swept to victory riding a wave of voter resentment. “I’m very honoured, I’m very humbled,” said Ford as he left his mother’s house Thursday evening on his way to PC election headquarters at the Toronto Congress Centre. “I want to thank our team and everyone out there.” “I’m very grateful to the people of Ontario,” he said. “We worked right up until the last minute and we appreciate everyone’s support.” WATCH: How Ontarians are responding to Doug Ford’s victory READ MORE: Ontario election results 2018: Live, real-time riding vote map Ford won his seat in Etobicoke North and Horwath held her seat in Hamilton Centre, where she has served as an MPP since 2004. In Guelph, Mike Schreiner made history Thursday night, becoming the first Green Party candidate to win a seat in an Ontario election. Story continues below advertisement With more than 98 per cent of polls reporting, the PCs had won or were leading in 76 seats and the NDP had won or were leading in 39 seats. The Liberals were leading in seven seats and the Green Party in one. Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne was re-elected after a tight battle for her riding of Don Valley West, but announced her resignation as party leader. WATCH: Wynne announces resignation as Ontario Liberal Party leader 3:04 Ontario Election: Kathleen Wynne resigns as head of Ontario Liberal Party Ontario Election: Kathleen Wynne resigns as head of Ontario Liberal Party – Jun 7, 2018 Speaking to supporters gathered at the Liberal campaign headquarters, Wynne said it was “difficult night” for her party who are hoping to maintain official party status at Queen’s Park. “This has been the greatest privilege of my life,” she said thanking party volunteers and candidates. “Everyday I have been your premier, and a minister, and an MPP that I have worked to think about your needs every single day.” Story continues below advertisement Wynne made history in 2013, when she became the first openly LGBT premier in Canada and first woman premier of Ontario after replacing Dalton McGuinty as leader of the Ontario Liberal Party. She won a majority government in the 2014 election. “I know that tonight is not the result we were looking for and no one feels that more sharply than I do. But this is not a moment when any of us should linger,” she said. ” I hope that you can feel very proud of what we have done together in the past and absolutely determined to take on the task that lies ahead.” Nearly all of cabinet ministers were defeated, including Attorney General Yasir Naqvi, Energy Minister Glenn Thibeault, and Steven Del Duca, minister of economic development. Christine Elliott, who ran against Ford to lead the PCs, unseated Liberal Environment Minister Chris Ballard in the Newmarket-Aurora riding. Jim Bradley, who had held the riding of St. Catharines for the Liberals for 41 years, also lost. Ford tells supporters Ontario is ‘open for business again’ In front of a cheering crowd of supporters at the Toronto Congress Centre, Ford spoke about a message of “hope” and “prosperity” for Ontarians. “Tonight the people of Ontario have spoken. People from every walk of life, from every corner of this great province, people from every political stripe, you have come together around one common vision of Ontario,” he said. Story continues below advertisement “My friends, help is here. Our team will work every single day to deliver this vision. We will work every single day for a better Ontario, a better future and a brighter future for our children.” “Tonight we have sent a message to the world that, ‘Ontario is open for business'” Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "My friends, help is here. Our team will work every single day to deliver this vision. We will work every single day for a better Ontario, a better future and a brighter future for our children. ""Tonight we have sent a message to the world that, 'Ontario is open for business'" READ MORE: Here’s a look at the promises Doug Ford made Meanwhile, Horwath told supporters at the Hamilton convention centre the NDP won more seats in a generation and was “deeply humbled” to be leader of the official opposition. “From the very start of this campaign people wanted change and I could not be more proud that we offered a positive vision,” she said. “New Democrats rejected the politics of fear and cynicism.” Horwath said she congratulated premier-designate Ford but would work to make sure the PCs are accountable to voters. “I told premier-designate that New Democrats will work each and every day for the change that families need to make life better for all of us.” Ford’s improbable run to be the next premier only began March 10 after winning the PC leadership in a hotly contested race following the resignation of Patrick Brown amid sexual misconduct allegations. The Toronto businessman immediately set his sights on Wynne for past Liberal scandals before turning his attention to the New Democrats, who began the election in third-place but rose dramatically in public opinion polls. Story continues below advertisement And despite not releasing a fully costed campaign platform, something he had promised to do for months, he made a number of expensive promises without offering details on how they would be paid for. His promise to find billions in government “inefficiencies” came with equally few details. WATCH: How Doug Ford won a majority government 3:54 Ontario Election: How Doug Ford won a majority government Ontario Election: How Doug Ford won a majority government – Jun 7, 2018<doc-sep>
Send this page to someone via email Shortly after the Ontario provincial election was called as a majority government for Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford, the leaders of each party took to their podiums to address their parties. However, though Kathleen Wynne was supposed to speak first, Doug Ford stepped in and made his speech before Wynne had the chance to object. The crowd responded to Ford’s interruption with a series of boos, which left the premier-elect visibly distressed. Story continues below advertisement Melissa Lantsman, a communications adviser for the Ontario PC Party, later told Global News that the mix-up “certainly was not intentional.” “Tonight was a night where we didn’t know how fast results would come in. This was the first time with electronic voting, and I’m sure it was an oversight. All the respect to Kathleen Wynne and whatever she was doing tonight,” Lantsman said. She went on to say that anyone who had the courage to put their name on a ballot deserved “all the respect in the world.” “If you’re going to put your name on a ballot and you’re going to take time away from your family and take time to make Ontario great, you deserve all the respect in the world — and Doug Ford is going to give you that.” Story continues below advertisement Global News reporter Jamie Mauracher also asked Lantsman about a composed Ford observed during the campaign, which some would call out of character for the eccentric politician. “I think you saw a very focused Doug Ford. I think you saw a Doug Ford who is ready to be premier. I do think the communications part was a big part of this campaign,” she said. The election was called in favour of a PC majority about 15 minutes after most polls closed in Ontario. The PCs are currently projected to win 75 seats, the NDP are projected to win 39, the Liberals are projected to win seven and the Green Party is projected to win one.