Newly re-elected Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks to supporters at his election night event in Toronto on Thursday, February 27, 2025.Laura Proctor/The Canadian Press
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Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford has won a third term after calling a snap election a year and a half early, arguing that he needed a “strong mandate” to fight back against U.S. President Donald Trump and his tariff threats.
Mr. Ford was first elected in 2018 and easily won the most recent vote two-and-a-half years ago, but much has changed since then: the official Opposition NDP and the third-place Liberals both have new leaders, Mr. Trump’s tariffs threats leave a recession hanging over Canadians’ heads and the premier’s decision to open up the Greenbelt for development, which he later reversed, is now the subject of an RCMP investigation.
Five takeaways from the Ontario election
Mr. Ford spent the campaign focusing on the question of who can best fight for Ontario in a trade war with the United States, including by travelling to Washington with other premiers as he was accused of inappropriately mixing electoral politics with his work as premier. At the same time, the opposition parties attempted to turn the tables and focus on health care, affordability, education and the premier himself, though they struggled to get their messages to break through.
On Friday at noon ET, Queen’s Park reporter Laura Stone and columnist Robyn Urback answered reader questions about the Ontario election, the race leading up to the vote and what we can learn from the results. Stone has been reporting on Mr. Ford’s war against U.S. tariffs and what we can learn from the election debates, while Urback has suggested Ford might have some ulterior motives to calling such an early election.
What does the result mean for Ontario and the rest of Canada? What issues decided the election? With the U.S. president threatening to proceed with tariffs as early as next week, has the election left Ontario any better prepared to weather that storm? Read the answers and find out.