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Premier Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals suffered a crushing defeat in two Ontario byelections Thursday, but vowed the losses would not be repeated in the general election, expected as early as this spring.

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The general election will be “the real decision point” for voters, said Wynne as she urged Liberals not to read too much into the opposition parties’ victories in Niagara Falls and Thornhill, north of Toronto.

“Whatever has happened in these byelections tonight is not reflective of what’s going to happen in the general election,” she said. “We cannot extrapolate from tonight. That is not the way it will go.”

The New Democrats took Niagara Falls from the Liberals, who had held it for the past decade, while the Progressive Conservatives held Thornhill.

The results don’t change the status of the minority Liberal government, but the byelections were viewed as crucial tests of voter intentions, and party messages, in advance of a general election.