After almost 10 years of Stephen Harper and a Conservative government, Canadians have elected a new leader, sweeping all six Mississauga electoral ridings and achieving a majority Liberal government.
The 78 days of campaigning came to an end last Monday as a new prime minister, Justin Trudeau, was elected and the Liberal party acquired 184 seats in the House of Commons, 150 more seats than they had in 2011. In the City of Mississauga, all six ridings elected a Liberal MP to represent their ridings in the House of Commons.
Iqra Khalid won the seat for the new Mississauga-Erin Mills riding with 50 percent of the votes, defeating Conservative Mississauga-Erindale incumbent Bob Dechert, who received almost 40 percent of votes. Khalid is one of 88 female MPs elected across the country, and one of two MPs of Pakistani decent.
Mississauga-Centre elected Liberal candidate Omar Alghabra with 55.1 percent of votes. Alghabra was a former Mississauga-Erindale MP who served from 2006 to 2008. Mississauga-Centre sits in the heart of the City of Mississauga in the Square One area and is a newly minted riding in the city. Alghabra immigrated to Canada at the age of 19, completed an engineering degree at Ryerson University, and then went on to pursue an MBA at York University.
The new Mississauga-East Cooksville riding elected Liberal candidate Peter Fonseca with 54.2 percent of votes, beating the previous Conservative MP, Wladyslaw Lizon. The former provincial cabinet minister and Olympic marathon runner is husband to Mississauga city councillor Chris Fonseca.
Sven Spengemann was elected in the riding of Mississauga-Lakeshore, winning the seat, with over 47 percent of votes, from Conservative incumbent Stella Ambler. German-born Spengemann moved to Canada at the age of 14 and attended UTM.
The Liberals’ Navdeep Bain won the newly configured riding of Mississauga-Malton with 59.1 percent of votes. Bain had also previously served as an MP for a conjoined riding of Mississauga-Brampton South.
Gagan Sikand won the Mississauga-Streetsville riding with 48 percent of votes. A lawyer, Sikand defeated Conservative MP Brad Butt, who earned 40.4 percent of votes.
