Happy Mothers Day - a uniquely Teddy look at his Mom

For Mothers Day I decided to make my mother a gift, one that is unique to me and what I do; I've decided to track her life by the elections she's lived through!

Since Municipal elections have spotty data, I will focus on Federal and Provincial elections, and, in particular, the prospective from the ridings where she lived.



The first election she would have lived through, though as a young child, 1965 Federal Election, at which time she lived in the Danforth riding. That election would see the Liberals under Pearson win 131 seats and a Majority. Danforth voted for the NDP however with 49% of the vote.

The next would be the Provincial election of 1967, which would see Stephen Lewis win Scarborough West for the NDP, ahead of Reg Stackhouse by a margin of 48%-31%. This provincial election returned the sitting PC government to another majority, 69 seats to 28 for the Liberals and 20 for the NDP.

Trudeaumania would strike in 1968 with a Federal Liberal majority, including a Liberal win on the riding of Scarborough West, on 43% of the vote.

This brings us to 1971 Ontario Provincial election which was won by the PC Party with 78 seats, compared to 20 for the Liberals and 19 for the NDP. The election saw Bill Davis, in his first victory, over Robert Nixon of the Liberals, and Stephen Lewis, leader of the NDP. Lewis won the Scarborough West riding with 39% of the vote, ahead of the PC Candidate at 38%, and Frank Faubert for the Liberals, at 23%. Faubert would go on to become Mayor.

Following this the next election she would have lived through was the Federal election of 1972. Famous as results on election night showed a tie, but once all the recounts had completed, the Liberals had won 109 to 107, with 31 for the NDP, 15 for Social Credit, and 2 Independents. Her riding, Scarborough West, was won by the NDP candidate with 36% of the vote, over the Liberal at 33%, and the Tory at 30%

Next on our list would be the federal 1974 election, which saw Trudeau win a majority, and the NDP lose half of their seats. One of those being the massive riding of Scarborough East, where my mother new lived, which went to the Liberals on 47% of the vote.

The news for the NDP would be better provincially in 1975, when they took 38 seats, to 36 for the Liberals, and held the Tories, at 51, to a minority. Scarborough Centre would re-elect its PC MPP on 41% of the vote, compared to 37% for the NDP.

1977 would see the NDP dropped to 3rd, 33 seats, behind the Liberals at 34, and the Tories at 58. Now in Scarborough North, she would again see a sitting PC MPP returned, this time on 50% of the vote.

The 1979 Federal election, which would see Joe Clark and his Tories win a minority, would see the York--Scarborough riding taken by the Tories, away from the Liberals who previously held the area.

The 1980 federal election would see Trudeau return with a majority. In my mother's riding, the incumbent PC MP would be defeated with the losing Liberal in 1979 in York--Scarborough, being elected, 48% of the vote to 38% for the sitting Tory.

In 1981 Mom was living out of the house, in Scarborough West, when the Provincial election hit. Lewis decided not to run for re-election, but the riding was held by the NDP regardless, 42% to 40% for the Tories. This would be Bill Davis' last election as Premier.

This is where our story take a sharp and sudden turn to British Columbia, in time for the 1983 provincial election. Gordon Campbell would be her Mayor, and Bill Bennett of Social Credit would be returned as Premier over Dave Barrett and his NDP. This election would see Vancouver--Little Mountain return its two incumbent Social Credit MLAs to the Legislature. This would have been the first election she was old enough to vote in, but residency requirements may not have allowed her to as she was new to the Province. Additionally, like me, she may not have voted in some of the earliest elections where she had that option. Though no Federal election occurred during her stay in BC, it would be remiss of me not to note her MP was a Tory.

By the time of the 1984 Federal election, I was in her belly! Scarborough East, her riding at the time, would easily stay PC, though under a different candidate. The federal 1984 election is famous for Mulroney's massive victory, where he won 211 seats.

The provincial 1985 election was much closer, Frank Miller lead the Tories to only 52 seats, ahead of David Peterson and the Liberals at 48, and Bob Rae of the NDP at 25. Peterson and Rae would sign a deal and Peterson would be Premier within 2 months. In that election, her riding of Scarborough-Ellesmere elected a NDP MPP who defeated the sitting Tory by only 219 votes.

By the 1987 election, she was now living back in the Scarborough North riding, which elected Alvin Curling, future Speaker, as a Liberal, in an election that returned 95 Liberals, 19 New Democrats, and 16 Tories.

This was followed by the 1988 Federal election where Derek Lee took Scarborough--Rouge River from the Tories with 47% of the vote over their 38%, also defeating NDP candidate Raymond Cho at 14%. This election saw Mulroney win a majority as well.

1990 would see Alvin Curling re-elected, but Bob Rae win a majority, taking 74 seats to 36 for the Liberals and 20 for the Tories.

The 1993 Federal election would be the first I actually recall watching! Our riding of Etobicoke Centre had been home of Michael Wilson, the Tory Finance Minister, but would see Allan Rock of the Liberals win, with over half of the vote, ahead of a second placed Reform Party challenger, and a 5th placed National Party candidate.

By the 1995 Provincial election we would be back in Alvin Curling's riding to see hin re-elected. Mike Harris would famously lead his Tories to a Majority in that election.

This is when our story moves to Prince Edward Island in time for the 1996 Provincial election that would see the Liberal MLA for Evangeline--Miscouche re-elected but the Liberals defeated 18 seats to 8 by the Tories, while the NDP would pick up 1 seat.

In the 1997 election our riding of Egmont would re-elect a Liberal as MP, and the Liberals would narrowly maintain their federal Majority.

2000 would see the provincial riding of Evangeline--Miscouche ditch its sitting Liberal MLA for a PC MLA on a margin of 48% to 45%, which added to the massive government of 26 MLAs vs 1 for the opposition Liberals.

Federally, the 2000 election would see Egmont return its Liberal MP with slightly over half of the vote.

In the 2003 Provincial election my mother, sadly, did not have the chance to vote for me, as, she did not live in the riding in which I ran! Instead her riding of St. Eleanors--Summerside re-elected its PC MLA in an election where the Tories won 23 seats to the Liberals 4.

The federal election of 2004 may have seen the Liberals lose their majority federally, only taking 135 seats to 99 for the Tories, 54 for the Bloc, 19 for the NDP, with 1 Independent, but the Egmont riding was easily held by the Grits on over half of the vote.

2006 would see little change Federally in the riding, with the same MP re-elected, but would usher in a government change with Harper winning a minority for the Tories, 124 seats to 103 for the Liberals, 51 for the Bloc, 29 for the NDP, and 1 Independent.

In the 2007 Provincial election, the Liberals would reverse the tables, taking 23 seats to 4 for the Tories, including Summerside--St. Eleanors, which they won with over half of the vote.

The 2008 Federal election would finally see Egmont go Blue, electing Gail Shea from the Tories by 55 votes. Harper would also increase his majority, taking 143 seats, to 77 for the Liberals, 49 for the Bloc, 37 for the NDP, with 2 Independents.

The 2011 Federal election would see the Tories win a majority, and Gail Shea win a majority in her riding for the Tories.

Provincially in the same year, The Liberals would be re-elected both to government and in the riding by similar margins as the previous election.

The 2015 Federal election would see the Liberals re-take not only a majority government, but the Egmont riding as well, heavily defeating Gail Shea, 49% to 29%.

Our most recent election is the 2015 Provincial election where the Liberals held government, 18 seats to 8 for the Tories, and 1 for the Greens, but only won the riding by 41% of the vote to 36% for the Tories, 12% for the NDP, and 11% for the Greens.



And thus, is the life of my Mom, in Elections.

Keep your own Mom in mind today, and don't forget to give her a call!