NDP Leader Marit Stiles holds her seat, easily winning Toronto’s Davenport riding

NDP leader Marit Stiles eased to victory in her Davenport riding even if her party failed to put an Orange Crush on Doug Ford’s victorious PCs.

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It was clear Ford’s PCs would win a third majority government shortly after the polls closed at 9 p.m.

Stiles, 55, who spent Thursday morning at a rally at a campaign office in Beaches-Danforth, remained optimistic: “We can do great things in the province of Ontario. And what I want for my kids, for all of our kids and grandkids is an Ontario where we have hope for the future, not fear.”

During her campaign, Stiles often cited health care and affordability as her priorities, including a promise to bring back rent control and upload 50% of the TTC’s operating costs to the province.

At NDP headquarters at The Great Hall on Queen St. W. — an events venue for everything from live music to weddings — there were orange Ontario NDP Marit Stiles placards plastered everywhere on the main floor and the upstairs balcony.

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Food was provided by Toronto caterer Miski, with a cash bar, while Stiles campaign spots played on a loop  on the main floor stage.

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Supporters were also doing their bit decked out in orange, with one woman wearing a long orange shirt with pleated sleeves that she got for a mere $7 at Value Village. Everyone cheered when Stiles was declared a winner.

The married mother of two daughters, whose husband is Jordan Berger — he ran unsuccessfully for the NDP in Davenport in 2003 — was first elected in Davenport in 2018.

This will be her third term representing the large Toronto riding which was created in 1999 from parts of Oakwood, Dovercourt, Parkdale, High Park—Swansea and a small part of York South.

With no challengers, Stiles was acclaimed leader on Feb. 4, 2003, replacing Andrea Horwath, who is now Hamilton’s mayor.

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Born in Newfoundland where she lived on a farm and was a synchronized swimmer with her younger sister, Stiles moved to Ontario to attend Carleton University and worked as a policy researcher before becoming research and policy director with ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists.)

She also served as a Toronto District School Board (TDSB) trustee in 2014 and was the president of the  NDP from 2016 to 2018, before her election as an MPP in Ontario when she beat Liberal incumbent Cristina Martins.

The snap election call by Ford sent opposition parties scrambling in the rare winter campaign.

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