Dalton McGuinty's party has won its second straight majority victory, the first time the Liberals have accomplished such a feat in 70 years.
The party swept into power Wednesday night in a decisive win, beating out John Tory's Progressive Conservatives.
"The people of Ontario have spoken tonight with clarity and with purpose," the Liberal leader said in his victory speech. "They have chosen the Ontario Liberal party to govern for four more years. And for this great privilege I am profoundly grateful."
McGuinty won his Ottawa South seat, becoming the first Liberal leader since Mitch Hepburn in 1937 to win back-to-back majorities, while several Liberal cabinet ministers were also victorious in their ridings, including John Gerretsen, Michael Bryant, Leona Dombrowsky, Jim Bradley, Greg Sorbara, Dwight Duncan, George Smitherman and Sandra Pupatello.
"Tonight, we Ontarians have come together to speak with conviction," McGuinty said. "Ontarians are . . . saying we haven't voted for the status quo, we are voting for moving forward and we demand progress."
It's a result that until a few weeks ago seemed far from certain. The Liberals started the campaign on the defensive, as Ontarians seemed frustrated with the party's record of broken promises.
But a pledge by Tory to fund religious schools was a deeply divisive one, stalling his campaign in the early going and preventing the Progressive Conservatives from making any meaningful gains in the polls. Tory lost in his own riding of Don Valley West to former Liberal education minister Kathleen Wynne. He apparently plans to stay on as party leader regardless.
"I will continue to have my job to do as leader of my party, holding (the Liberals) to account," Tory said in his concession speech.
The Liberals wound up with 71 seats, with 26 for the Conservatives and 10 for the NDP.
Green party leader Frank De Jong had hoped his party would have a strong showing with at least one seat in the legislature, but that didn't appear likely. The Greens wound up with 8 per cent of the popular vote.
There are 107 seats at stake in the Ontario legislature. At dissolution, the Liberals held 67 seats in the Ontario legislature, the Conservatives 25, and the New Democrats 10, with one vacant seat, meaning after all that talk, time and expense - nothing really changed.
To see McGuinty's victory speech,
click here.
To see the results,
visit our Election Site.
Blog with Amber Mac
as she covers the 2007 Provincial Election behind-the-scenes at CityNews.
Tory loses seat to Wynne
Heavy hitters hold on to seats
McGuinty's campaign worked
Green party fails to win first seat
Referendum rejected