» Two big GTA swing ridings: Toronto-St. Paul’s and Eglinton-Lawrence

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Two GTA swing riding races that were being closely watched on Monday night were Toronto-St. Paul’s and Eglinton-Lawrence.

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With poll results slowly trickling in, Liberal Leslie Church had a modest lead over Conservative Don Stewart. The NDP’s Bruce Levy was in third.

As for Eglinton Lawrence, it was also going red in the early going with Liberal Vince Gasparro slightly ahead of Conservative Karen Stintz.

Church — a top aide to former finance minister Chrystia Freeland — was trying to win back the riding for her party.

“I’m committed to fighting for the issues that matter—climate action, inclusion, and keeping our community strong,” Church posted on her X account on Sunday.

Church is a married lawyer and mother of three who has represented Canada at the G7 and the White House — and has a platform to strengthen the economy, create more higher-paying jobs, bring down the cost of living and building for the future.

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Stewart, meanwhile, has called St. Paul’s their home since 2016 and has both engineering and business degrees which he relied on his career by selling construction products before working Bay St.

“This is our chance to put common sense leadership back to Ottawa and choose a government that puts Canada First,” wrote Stewart on his X account on Sunday.

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The Tories were also hoping to pick up the Toronto riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, which has been Liberal for decades except for four years (2011-2015) under former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Stintz, a mother of two, represented the area from 2003 until 2014 as a city Toronto councillor.

“We built something bigger than a campaign. We built a movement. Now it’s time to finish what we started. This is our moment, Eglinton-Lawrence,” wrote Stintz on her X account on Sunday.

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Stintz is currently president and CEO of Variety Village and Variety the Children’s Charity – Ontario.

In February, Gasparro — a senior advisor to then-mayor of Toronto John Tory — came within 200 votes of picking up this seat for the Ontario Liberal Party in the provincial election.

“This is the most consequential election of our lifetime,” Gasparro tweeted out on Monday morning on his X account.

Gasparro was born and raised in North York to Italian-Canadian parents and calls Eglinton-Lawrence home, where he resides with his wife and two daughters with extensive experience in finance and government.

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