Ontario Premier Doug Ford has called an early election, dissolving the current parliamentary session of Ontario, in an attempt to renew the Progressive Conservative (PC) party’s mandate for four more years.
Campaigns officially start on Wednesday January 29th and run until the election date of February 27th.
Ford’s PC party is leading in the polls by double digits and poised to win a third majority government—perhaps even with a few more seats.
The Premier’s campaign slogan is “protecting Ontario,” a reference to the 25% tariff threat from U.S. President Donald Trump. The Ontario government says Trump’s tariffs could cost the province up to 500,000 jobs.
Ford makes retaliatory threat
Ford has made it his trademark to protect Ontario while the looming tariff threat puts Ontario’s workers in a precarious position.
He’s already made threats to ban American alcohol from LCBO stores, while backing a dollar-for-dollar trade war approach of the Trudeau-led federal government.
The provincial government’s tariff response could include billions of dollars of public spending.
Ontario’s largest opposition party, the New Democrat Party—and their leader Marit Stiles—is polling to remain opposition leader, albeit far behind Ford.
The Ontario NDP is projected to win a few more seats than the Liberal Party, which had its worst loss in history in 2018, followed by its second worst in 2022.
