It bears his electronic signature and says it is authorized by the CFO of the Progressive Conservative party, Deputy Premier Deb Matthews noted.
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Raymond Cho, a Toronto city councillor, won the Scarborough-Rouge River riding in what polls had suggested was a tight race between his Progressive Conservatives and the Liberals.
Liberal candidate Piragal Thiru had about 29 per cent of the vote to Cho’s 39 per cent. NDP candidate Neethan Shan trailed with about 27 per cent.
Shan ended up third on Thursday night.
Balkissoon resigned his seat in the east Toronto riding in March, giving little in the way of explanation and there are now 11 candidates vying to take his place at Queen’s Park. Before that Alvin Curling had represented the area for the Liberals since 1985.
Provincial PC leader Patrick Brown took to the podium and said “boy does it feel good to be a Conservative tonight “.
Brown says “Sex education has a place in schools”.
Despite the victory, Patrick Brown’s backtracking after promising to scrap the Liberal sex-ed curriculum could cost his party votes provincially.
The Liberals seized on the chance to brand Brown a flip-flopper.
Brown has since disavowed the letter, saying he didn’t see it before it was delivered to constiuents, and has pledged not to throw out the new curriculum.
Doug Ford also spoke and said “we finally have blazed a trail through Toronto”.
Editorials from both left- and right-leaning media outlets roundly criticized Brown, saying the incident either shows he can’t control his team, he can’t pick a lane on a relatively straightforward issue or was just telling voters what they wanted to hear.
But opposing the curriculum would have garnered his party votes in Scarborough-Rouge River, where it is deeply unpopular, Brown acknowledged.
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The curriculum was updated a year ago, for the first time since 1998, but some parents complained that the government didn’t consult them enough and others were angered by mentions of same-sex relationships, gender identities and masturbation.
