Liberal finance minister Charles Sousa has held onto his seat in Mississauga South.
As one of the provincial government’s most prominent ministers, his win in a riding marked by a mid-campaign gas plant cancellation in 2011 signals good things for the Liberal party this election.
Sousa won with 50.2 per cent of the vote as of 11:13 PM Election Night. PC candidate Effie Triantafilopolous won 33.7 per cent and NDP candidate Boris Rosolak won 10.5 per cent.
In the middle of the 2011 campaign, former Premier Dalton McGuinty announced the cancellation of an unpopular gas plant just outside the riding, likely helping secure Sousa’s victory. But the gas plant cancellation became a political lightning rod after it emerged that the decision cost the province far more than it could have and significantly more than the Liberals had originally said – about a billion dollars.
There’s an ongoing investigation into whether records regarding the decision and its cost were purposely destroyed; the Ontario Provincial Police have interviewed McGuinty and, last week, issued a production order for Queen’s Park staff to produce documents related to the investigation.
Sousa, first elected to the legislature in 2007, has held several cabinet posts, including Citizenship and Immigration, Minister Responsible for the 2015 Pan and Parapan American Games and Minister of Labour.
Before entering politics, he worked at RBC Financial Group.
Full results from the 2014 Ontario provincial election
More information about this riding
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