Few surprises result from Thursday's provincial byelections
By Bill Rea

Thursday's three provincial byelections caused very little in the way of shake-ups in the Legislature at Queen's Park, and roughly the same amount of surprise among local provincial politicians.

Michael Chan kept nearby Markham in the Liberal camp, replacing Tony Wong, who left provincial politics in the fall to successfully return to municipal office. In Burlington, Progressive Conservative Joyce Savoline held on to the seat for her party after former cabinet minister Cam Jackson left to run at the municipal level too. The only shift in alignments was in York South - Weston, where New Democrat Paul Ferriera took the riding that had previously been held by Grit Joe Cordiano.

"I never put too much stock in byelections," commented Vaughan - King - Aurora MPP Greg Sorbara. "They're a little bit like spring training. You want to win, but they don't have a big impact on the regular season."

He did observe Liberals were strong in all three races, although he admitted he had been hoping for something better in York South - Weston. Liberal Laura Albanese fell about 400 votes short there.

Sorbara said a variety a factors would have been involved in the result, including the fact that it's not easy to get people out to the polls in the winter, especially for a byelection which is not likely to have a major impact on policy.

He also said this shouldn't be viewed as a preview of the next general election, slated for October.

"I think we can win back York South - Weston," he predicted, adding Chan took Markham "with very strong numbers."

"I think they are a barometer," remarked York North MPP Julia Munro, despite the low voter turn-out.

She also said the results weren't a surprise.

Munro was pleased her party held on to Burlington, and she expressed disappointment in the results in Markham, where she said said Tory Alex Yuan was "a really, really good candidate."

She added Yuan has been successful in business and an active community volunteer. It sometimes takes people like him a while to get their messages across, Munro observed, adding she hopes he treats this experience as a rehearsal for October.

Former Whitchurch - Stouffville mayor Sue Sherban, who has announced her plans to seek the Tory nomination in the new riding of Oak Ridges - Markham in the next provincial campaign, said she helped out on Yuan's campaign.

She agreed there was low voter turn-out, but she thought the party brought a new agenda to the table.

"It was actually very encouraging," she said. "I think it gets people energized to the coming election in the fall."