Liberal incumbent Jim Karygiannis is overcome with emotion as he is hugged by his friend and supporter Sam Sotiropoulos at the victory party in Scarborough-Agincourt Monday night. This is his 8th consecutive win in this riding in north-east Toronto. (STAN BEHAL/Toronto Sun)

Karygiannis wins eighth term

Liberal incumbent first elected in 1988

April 2, 2011

Veteran MP Jim Karygiannis was re-elected to an eighth term in office in Scarborough-Agincourt. He's now the only Liberal certain to be elected in Scarborough.

Karygiannis, who has held the riding since 1988, garnered 7,908 votes or 44.3 per cent of the vote with 99 of 197 polls reporting.

Conservative candidate Harry Tsai, an entrepreneur, is in second place with 6,171 votes or 34.6 per cent of the vote.

Nancy Patchell of the NDP is in third place with 3,332 votes (18.7 per cent) while Green candidate Pauline Thompson has 433 votes (2.4 per cent).

Karygiannis, who took 57 per cent of the vote in the last election, had served as parliamentary secretary to Liberal ministers of transportation and human resources and skills development.
Scarborough-Agincourt is home to large Chinese and South Asian communities. It has a population of 111,867, with 72,113 eligible voters.

Big changes in Scarborough

By Chris Doucette

TORONTO - The sea of red that had blanketed the city’s east end has dried up.

All five of the ridings in Scarborough had been held by Liberals heading into Monday’s federal election. But only longtime Grit MPs Jim Karygiannis and John McKay were able to hold onto their seats.

“Unfortunately, (the Liberals) just tanked tonight,” said Karygiannis, who represents Scarborough-Agincourt.  “We’ll have to re-build and that work starts tomorrow.”

Elated by his own victory, he said his team played a major role in the outcome. 

“Over the last 22 years, there’s not a house that I haven’t visited, there’s not a constituent I haven’t talked to,” Karygiannis said. “Everybody knows me and they know the work that I do.”

While Scarborough’s other Liberal incumbents may have been nervous on election day, Karygiannis was confident his constituents would vote him in for an eighth straight time.

“I got to at least five or six events every weekend,” the veteran politician said, explaining he spends a lot of time in the community. “I don’t hide from my constituents.”

More than 44% of the ballots cast were for Karygiannis, who was first elected MP in Scarborough-Agincourt back in 1988. His only real rival was Conservative candidate Harry Tsai, who received just over 34% of the votes.

Veteran Liberal John McKay just barely hung onto his seat in Scarborough-Guildwood, edging out Conservative Chuck Konkel, whose party now has a majority government.

But the other three east end Liberals didn’t fair nearly as well.

The Tories won a new seat in Scarborough Centre as Roxanne James beat out Liberal incumbent John Cannis.

The NDP’s Dan Harris managed to take the Scarborough Southwest seat from Liberal Michelle Simson.

And another New Democrat, Rathika Sitsabaiesan, smoked the competition in Scarborough-Rouge River, beating Liberal candidate Rana Sarkar, who was brought in to replace retiring incumbent Derek Lee.

ΠΗΓΗ / SOURCE: Toronto Sun