Doug Ford, the incumbent premier of Canada’s Ontario province, has declared victory in an election returning his Progressive Conservative party to office for a rarely won third term.
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) projected a sweeping victory for the Progressive Conservatives, with 43% of the vote.
“As we stare down the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs … I will work with every level of government and every political stripe because fighting back against Donald Trump, standing up for Canada, it will take a full Team Ontario effort,” Ford said.
Trump has threatened 25% tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico. Ontario, a major manufacturing region exporting to the US, would be especially affected.
Ford called an election more than a year early, seeking a stronger mandate to fight Donald Trump’s threatened tariffs against Canada, though he already had a majority government in the provincial legislature. Calling the election was Ford’s bet to win another majority, said Laura Stephenson, a Western University politics professor.
Ford’s rivals struggled to focus voter attention on scandals facing the Progressive Conservative leader and challenges facing the province. Canada’s most populous province, with 35% of the national population, is struggling to provide its more than 14 million residents with adequate healthcare. About 2.5 million Ontarians lack a primary care provider, up from 1.8 million in 2020.
It is unusual for Ontario to hold a winter election, and on election day much of the province was still digging out from recent snowstorms. According to Elections Ontario, just after 10pm local time the voter turnout was at 42.62%.
Trump has said he could use economic force to make Canada the 51st state. The US president is dominating Canadian politics at provincial and national levels. A Canadian federal election is also expected this year.
Ford took to sporting a “Canada is not for sale” hat and made two trips to Washington DC during the election campaign to make his case against US tariffs.
Ontario’s election results might bode well for the Liberal party that governs in Ottawa, said University of Toronto politics professor Semra Sevi. These results “show how external factors – like Trump’s tariffs – can significantly shape the political climate and voter priorities,” Sevi said, nothing the “recent resurgence of the federal Liberals after a period of decline”.
With Reuters
