Put the T.O. back in Tory.

The Progressive Conservatives have secured a foothold in Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne’s electoral fortress of Toronto with a stunning victory in the Scarborough-Rouge River byelection.

Raymond Cho, 79, a veteran city councillor, easily won Thursday, giving the Tories their first seat in the 416 area code since losing Etobicoke-Lakeshore in 2014.

Cho’s campaign survived a self-inflicted wound by rookie Conservative Leader Patrick Brown to secure a seat that had been held since 2005 by Liberal MPP Bas Balkissoon, who retired unexpectedly in March.

“Tonight there’s a blue wave that’s crossed the Rouge River. Tonight, we made history . . . and won a seat the Liberal party has never lost in the city of Toronto,” Brown told scores of cheering supporters at the Tories’ Sheppard Ave. E. campaign office.

Ontario’s newest MPP credited Doug Ford for his success.

“Without his help, I don’t think I would win this election,” said Cho.

It’s a political blow to ‎Wynne’s Liberals, who have represented the vast majority of Toronto ridings since taking power in 2003.

Lagging in public-opinion polls, the governing Grits had hoped the Conservatives’ internal troubles would boost their candidate, Piragal Thiru, 37, a York Region transportation planner vying to be Ontario’s first Tamil MPP.

On Aug. 24, the Tories distributed 13,000 copies of a letter — in English and Chinese and signed by Brown — that promised to “scrap” Wynne’s updated sex-education curriculum that remains controversial in some cultural and religious communities.

After blowback from centrist Tories and members of his own caucus over the flip-flop, the leader apologized for the error in an online piece for the Star on Monday.

“It was a mistake for a letter to go out to Scarborough-Rouge River voters saying that I would ‘scrap’ the updated curriculum. This is not my view. This is not what I will do. In fact, the opposite is true. I apologize,” he wrote.

But that move infuriated the social conservatives who had helped him win the Tory leadership in May 2015 amid hopes he would axe the curriculum and curb abortion rights.

There is also lingering confusion over who in Brown’s office authorized the missive and why it took so long to correct the problem — even though it didn’t derail Cho.

Some Liberals were crying foul on Thursday night, believing the Tory chief’s English-only apology was not heard by the riding’s large Chinese community.

Former Toronto mayoral candidate Doug Ford, who helped run Cho’s campaign, said he wasn’t behind the letter.

“No, no. The hydro rates, the jobs, these pieces of literature came out of here,” he told reporters Thursday night.

Ford insisted those pocketbook issues were the most important to voters in Scarborough-Rouge River.

‎However, in a riding where 90 per cent of residents are visible minorities, sex education was a hot-button topic with some Chinese-Canadians.

Cho, who was born in Korea and does not speak Chinese, was hearing that on some doorsteps, which is why the Tories circulated the letter.

Fearing that any electoral gain locally could cause political pain provincially, Brown’s team did a U-turn after five days of hemming and hawing.

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The sex-education debacle ended up dominating a campaign that had been seized by more pressing matters like soaring electricity rates this hot summer and Scarborough’s need for better public transit.

But even with that snafu, Thiru could not shake being saddled with almost 13 years of Liberal baggage. New Democrat Neethan Shan, a local school board trustee, was third.

Voters may not have seen the last of Shan — he is a mentioned as a potential successor to Cho at Toronto city council.

Cho’s Ward 42 (Scarborough-Rouge River) council seat, which he has held since city boundaries were redistributed in 2000, must now be declared vacant by council.

With more than two years left in the term, council has the choice on how to fill the seat: it may appoint a new councillor or hold a byelection to fill the vacancy.

Thursday’s result means the 107-member legislature will have 57 Liberal MPPs, including Speaker Dave Levac; 29 Tories; 20 New Democrats; and one vacancy.

While the Tories won a 2013 byelection in Etobicoke-Lakeshore — held by former councillor Doug Holyday for nine months before losing in 2014 — they have not triumphed in a Toronto riding in a general election since 1999 when Mike Harris was premier.

Wynne will call a byelection to fill the former Ottawa-Vanier seat of retired Liberal minister Madeleine Meilleur later this year.

There will also be a byelection before the end of March in Niagara West-Glanbrook after former Tory leader Tim Hudak resigns his seat on Sept. 16.

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With files from Jennifer Pagliaro

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