A local MPP says voters were clearly sending a message to Ontario's Liberal Party in Thursday's five byelections.
"I think it's fair to say there's some dissatisfaction with some of the decisions that have been made historically," said Bill Mauro (Lib., Thunder Bay-Atikokan).
"That's normal. When you're in government, you're making a lot of decisions all of the time and people will use byelections to send a very clear signal to you," Mauro told CKPR Radio Friday.
The Liberals, led by premier Kathleen Wynne, held onto two of five of their provincial seats Thursday.
MPP Mitzie Hunter won the riding of Scarborough-Guildwood and John Fraser won the seat in Ottawa South, which had been former premier Dalton McGuinty's seat.
The NDP's Peggy Sattler grabbed the London West seat and the orange party's Percy Hatfield took the Windsor-Tecumseh riding.
And the Progressive Conservatives took their first Toronto riding since 1999. Doug Holyday is now the MPP in Etobicoke-Lakeshore.
Mauro said they were expecting to hold onto at least three seats, but noted that traditionally byelections can be difficult on the sitting government.
All the Liberals can do now is move forward, he added.
"You take the message that's been delivered and you just prepare to do what you have to do moving forward," he said.
The Liberals maintain a minority government with 50 seats and Mauro believes the party is still well-positioned to fight in the next general election.
