The slate of candidates the Ontario Progressive Conservatives are putting before Mississauga voters is now complete, with the party holding their last nomination in this city for the 2018 provincial election this past Sunday at the Red Rose Convention Centre in the riding of Mississauga Malton.

Billed as the largest nomination in their party, some 12,000 people were registered to vote in a meeting that featured four candidates: Deepak Anand, Hardeep Grewal, Rajinder Bal, and Clyde Roach. The candidates’ speeches started around 12:30 pm and voting continued for several hours until 6:00 pm that evening.

Candidates for PC nomination in Mississauga Malton are (from left to right) Clyde Roach, Rajinder Bal, Hardeep Grewal, and Deepak Anand

With that many people voting, the counting went on for several hours after 6:00 pm, but in the end Deepak Anand was the eventual winner on the third ballot. The party uses a ranked voting system where people selected their candidate by preference, with the winner having to secure 50 per cent plus one of the vote.

Anand is a chemical engineer by training with an MBA from the Schulich School of Business. In addition to being the owner of an auto parts distribution company, Anand is also the host of a radio show on AM 770 focusing on social issues and agencies, a director of the Canadian Federation of Truckers, as well as co-chairing the Malton Community Building Project. He will now be tasked with unseating Liberal MPP Amrit Mangat in the next election, while also being challenged by NDP candidate Nikki Clarke.

Nomination candidate Deepak Anand speaking to PC party members before voting

Mangat has represented the riding of Mississauga-Brampton South since 2007, and was recently nominated to run for re-election in the newly drawn provincial riding of Mississauga Malton. Malton was once represented by the new federal NDP leader, Jagmeet Singh, and its inclusion in the new riding may boost NDP fortunes somewhat, which some PCs were probably hoping a vote split on the left would allow them to come up the middle.

Liberal MPP Amrit Mangat speaking in the Ontario Legislature

But this riding was always somewhat of a challenge for Ontario PCs, as previous elections resulted in their party barely obtaining 30 per cent of the vote. Historically, all of the ridings in Mississauga and Brampton swing to one party in an election, such as they did for the Ontario PCs during the 1990s and for the Liberals during the last few elections, with the exception being Singh winning a seat in the region for the NDP.

Unless the Tories under Patrick Brown can build a substantial lead ahead of the governing Liberals, which based on current polling suggests both parties are neck and neck, it will be difficult for the Tories to win Mississauga Malton, let alone all the other Mississauga ridings. The smart money right now is that a minority government will emerge, but as to which party will hold the reins of power that is too soon to tell.