Ontario election agenda: What you need to know from election night

Here's what's making news on election night.

The big story

• The Progressive Conservatives will form a majority government, and Doug Ford will become the 26th premier of Ontario. At publication time, the PCs had won or were leading in 74 ridings, the NDP in 40, the Liberals in seven, and the Greens in one.
• Doug Ford won his riding of Etobicoke North and Andrea Horwath won her riding of Hamilton Centre. Kathleen Wynne is still in a battle for her riding of Don Valley West.
• Mike Schreiner becomes the first Green MPP in Ontario history, winning the riding of Guelph.
• “We have sent a clear message to the world: Ontario is open for business,” Ford said in his victory speech. In a break with protocol, Ford did not wait for the losing party leaders to speak, and in fact began speaking just as Wynne took the podium at her campaign headquarters.
• “I’ve spoken to premier designate Ford, and I did congratulate on his achievement,” Horwath, the new leader of the official Opposition,  told her supporters. “And I told the premier designate that New Democrats will work each and every day for the change that families need to make life better.”
• An emotional Wynne announced that she would be standing down as Liberal leader and “passing the torch” to a new generation of leadership. Although the Liberals won just a handful of seats, Wynne noted, “We’re still standing.”

Other ridings of note

• Peggy Sattler of the NDP won in London West, defeating controversial PC candidate Andrew Lawton, who had been criticized for past Islamophobic and sexist remarks. 

• NDP candidate Terence Devin Kernaghan takes London North Centre, a riding that for years had been held by Liberal cabinet minister Deb Matthews, who decided not to run this time around.

• Some of the NDP candidates that were criticized for being “too radical” have been elected: Jessica Bell in University–Rosedale, Gurratan Singh in Brampton East, and Joel Harden in Ottawa Centre.

• Liberal Jim Bradley, the second-longest serving MPP in Ontario history, has been defeated in St. Catharines. He had served in the legislature since 1977.

• Christine Elliott, who was runner-up in the PC leadership race, is headed back to Queen’s Park as MPP for Newmarket–Aurora, defeating Liberal environment and climate change minister Chris Ballard.

• PC candidate Goldie Ghamari, who has said she doesn’t believe in climate change, is headed to Queen’s Park as the MPP of Carleton.

• The PCs are sweeping rural eastern Ontario.

• Some of the other Liberal cabinet ministers losing their seats tonight include Yasir Naqvi, Reza Moridi, Eleanor McMahon, Daiene Vernille, and Dipika Damerla.