Conservatives take late lead to win Toronto byelection
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Conservative Don Stewart took a late lead to win the Toronto -- St. Paul's byelection. With all polls reporting early Tuesday morning, Stewart won by 590 votes over Liberal Leslie Church in an upset win for Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives.
Conservative Don Stewart took a late lead to win the Toronto -- St. Paul's byelection.
With all polls reporting early Tuesday morning, Stewart won by 590 votes over Liberal Leslie Church in an upset win for Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives.
This is a breaking news story, previous version follows.
An urban Toronto riding that has been a Liberal-safe seat for three decades appears to be on the verge of falling to the Tories in an upset win for Pierre Poilievre and his Conservatives.
If Don Stewart hangs on to win, it will be a major blow to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has been under pressure to resign as his party falters in the polls.
Stewart, a financial executive running in his first election, trailed Liberal Leslie Church for hours as poll workers moved at a glacial pace to count ballots that were stacked with independent candidates thanks to a protest group trying to make a point about the first-past-the-post system.
But when the fourth last of 192 polls reported just before 4 a.m., Stewart jumped into a lead of nearly 500 votes.
