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In the end, it wasn’t even close.

Earlier in the week, I predicted a win by the Ontario Tories in that province’s election on Thursday. But, I used the phrase “eke out.” Even I didn’t expect such an overwhelming victory.

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Doug Ford and the PCs won 76 seats, 13 more than are needed for a majority and 36 more than the second-place New Democrats.

The NDP may have won 40 seats and become the second-largest party in the Ontario legislature for the first time in the almost a quarter century. But their wins were confined mostly to five large cities – Toronto, Ottawa, Hamilton, London and Windsor – plus a half dozen northern ridings in which they are always competitive.

The Tories took all the rest, including the vital (and seat-rich) suburbs that ring Toronto proper, like Mississauga, Richmond Hill and Vaughn.

Despite all the polls showing a neck-and-neck race, the popular vote wasn’t that close – 41%f or premier-designate Ford and the Tories versus 34% for Andrea Horwath and the NDP. Turnout (58% of eligible voters) was the best in nearly two decades.