Andrea Hazell has won the provincial byelection in Scarborough-Guildwood, keeping the riding in the Liberals' camp.
Turnout was low, with just 21.8 per cent of eligible voters in Scarborough-Guildwood casting ballots, according to Elections Ontario's website.
Scarborough-Guildwood has been a Liberal stronghold since it was created by merging parts of three ridings in 2007.
Hazell owns a financial management firm and is president and chair of the Scarborough Business Association. She is also the chair of the Caribbean Philanthropic Council.
"The Ontario Liberals are standing up for those who call Scarborough home, for working people, for families, for health care, and for education," she said in a statement.
The Scarborough-Guildwood riding has been vacant since May, when former Liberal MPP Mitzie Hunter resigned from the legislature to run unsuccessfully for mayor of Toronto after representing the riding for 10 years. Hunter was not elected mayor, and the provincial Liberal caucus at Queen's Park fell to just seven.
On her party's website, Hazell is described as a proven leader.
"I have a winning track record of delivering results for our community, and I'm ready to bring that same drive and determination to serve the people of Scarborough–Guildwood at Queen's Park," Hazell is quoted saying on the website.
Hazell was among a number of candidates vying for the riding. They include:
Gary Crawford: Progressive Conservatives. Thadsha Navaneethan:NDP. Tara McMahon: Green Party. A number of independent and smaller party candidates also ran.
Crawford congratulates Hazell Crawford, who was serving his third term as Toronto city councillor for Ward 20 Scarborough–Southwest when he entered the race, resigned that position on Tuesday.
Following the byelection result, he issued a statement congratulating Hazell on being elected the new MPP for Scarborough-Guildwood. He also thanked fellow candidates for their contributions to the race.
"I am grateful to Premier Doug Ford for the opportunity to run as part of the Ontario PC team," Crawford said.
Elections Ontario said last week that 2,565 voters cast their ballot through advance voting, representing around 3.6 per cent of registered voters. That's down from 8.8 per cent in the 2022 general election.
The riding saw a 38 per cent turnout in 2022 — below the provincewide turnout of about 44 per cent.
Scarborough-Guildwood wasn't the only riding where the Liberals had a victory Thursday night.
In the Ottawa-area riding of Kanata-Carleton, Karen McCrimmon, the former Liberal MP for the riding, won the seat for the Liberals over Progressive Conservative candidate Sean Webster.
The party has no leader at the moment, though five people are vying for the title, and has severely diminished resources following two successive electoral routs. It finished the evening with its highest seat count since 2018.