Both parties were benefiting from a slide in support for the party that had governed Canada since 1993. The Liberals earned 39.9 per cent of the vote in Canada's most heavily populated province, compared to 44.7 per cent in the 2004 general election.
Liberal candidates were leading or declared elected in 54 of the province's 106 federal ridings at 12:45 a.m. EST Tuesday, down from the 75 they won in 2004.
Conservatives were leading or elected in 40 ridings, compared to the 24 seats the party captured in the previous race. The New Democratic Party was ahead in 12 ridings, improving on the seven ridings the party won last time.
Jack Layton, left, and wife Olivia Chow pose for photographers as they watch the polls in Toronto Monday, Jan. 23, 2006. (CP photo)
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The Greater Toronto Area continued to be painted mostly Liberal red, with candidates from the party either leading or declared elected in 36 ridings, compared to five for the Conservatives and three for the NDP.
Michael Ignatieff address the crowd at his election headquarters in Toronto Monday Jan. 23, 2006. (CP photo)
In the "905 belt" surrounding Toronto, the Liberals held on to 17 of the 19 seats they won last time, with the Conservatives gaining the other two for a total of five.
Outside the province's urban core, the Conservatives were winning or elected in 35 ridings, compared to 18 for the Liberals and nine for the NDP.
Among the ridings changing hands were:
- Lambton-Kent-Middlesex, where Conservative Bev Shipley was declared elected over Liberal Jeff Wesley.
- Chatham-Kent-Essex, where Dave Van Kesteren beat Liberal Jim Comiskey.
- Hamilton Mountain, where the NDP's Chris Charlton edged Liberal Bill Kelly.
- Trinity-Spadina, where NDP candidate Olivia Chow narrowly beat Liberal incumbent Tony Ianno.
Prominent Liberals who were leading or declared elected in their ridings included Belinda Stronach in Newmarket-Aurora, John McCallum in Markham-Unionville, Michael Ignatieff in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, Ken Dryden in York-Centre, Joe Volpe in Eglinton-Lawrence and Maria Minna in Beaches-East York.
Among the Liberal losers were Transport Minister Tony Valeri in Hamilton East-Stoney Creek, Minister of International Co-operation Aileen Carroll in Barrie, and Agriculture Minister Andy Mitchell in Parry Sound-Muskoka.
Prominent Conservative winners were Jim Flaherty in Whitby-Oshawa, John Baird in Ottawa West-Nepean, Garth Turner in Halton and Tony Clement in Parry Sound-Muskoka.
Clement's margin of victory over Mitchell was only 21 votes, however, so a recount will automatically take place in that riding.
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Toronto's core has long been a safe house for the Liberals. All but one of its 22 seats went to Paul Martin's party in the 2004 election that gave him a minority government, for example, accounting for almost a third of the Liberals' 75 seats in the 106-seat province.
The 905 belt in the Toronto area has been less of a sure thing. The Conservatives picked up a handful of seats there in 2004 and were hoping for a bigger share this time out.
Among other factors, they hope suburban voters would swing their way because of:
- Dislike of the Liberals' same-sex marriage legislation on the part of immigrant and socially conservative communities.
- Approval of the Conservatives' promised cuts in the GST, $1,200-a-year day-care allowance for each child under six, and family-friendly tax credits.
- Law and order, especially after a 15-year-old girl was shot dead on Boxing Day during a downtown shopping trip, apparently as a result of a gang-related dispute.
- Duelling promises by the Liberals and Conservatives to cut or drop an $895 "landing fee" charged to immigrants.
- Offers to either increase money for public transit infrastructure or give monthly pass holders some income tax relief.
Much of rural Ontario turned Conservative blue in the 2004 election, giving Stephen Harper's newly merged, united-right party 24 seats in the province. In the previous election, the Canadian Reform Conservative Alliance elected only two MPs in Ontario, while the Progressive Conservatives were shut out.
- LIVE ANALYSIS: CBC.ca's Reality Check Team on election day developments
New Democrats in Ontario went into this election day hoping to reverse a strategic voting trend that smacked them in the face in 2004. In that campaign's dying days, many traditional NDP voters decided to shift their ballots to the Liberals to prevent Conservative candidates from winning.
This time out, Layton aggressively pressed Liberal voters to return their favour. "Lend me your vote," he told them in the last two weeks of the campaign, saying the Liberals needed some time in the "repair shop" to sort out their ethical issues.
