Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford meets with supporters during his campaign launch in Windsor, Ont., Jan. 29.Dax Melmer/The Canadian Press
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford launched his provincial election campaign at the Canada-U.S. border Wednesday, pledging to fight potential U.S. tariffs but offering no firm details about his response plan, while his opponents accused him of mismanaging the province and letting health care languish.
Standing at the foot of the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Mr. Ford portrayed himself as a fighter who can take on U.S. President Donald Trump and asking Ontarians to give his party a third consecutive majority in a snap vote on Feb. 27, well ahead of what would have been the next election in June, 2026.
“I’m asking the people for a strong, stable, four-year mandate to do whatever it takes to protect Ontario,” said Mr. Ford, who was headed to London, Ont., for an appearance Thursday morning.
Laura Stone, The Globe's Ontario Legislature reporter, looks at the political landscape as the snap Ontario election campaign begins. Premier and PC Leader Doug Ford is calling for a stronger mandate to tackle the threat of tariffs from the Trump administration, while the opposition parties suggest it's a power grab as other issues aren't addressed.
The Globe and Mail
On Wednesday, Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer, Greg Essensa, released the expected price tag for the snap vote, telling reporters at Queen’s Park his agency is budgeting $189-million.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie have said the election is needless, accusing Mr. Ford of calling a distracting campaign amid the tariff crisis for his own gain. They say he is trying to get in front of what could be a slowing economy, a federal election that could bring cost-cutting federal Conservatives to power and any charges laid by the RCMP in their probe of his government’s aborted move to allow a small group of developers to profit from building housing in the protected Greenbelt area of Southern Ontario.
Speaking to reporters in Windsor, Mr. Ford said Mr. Trump’s threat to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian goods, potentially starting Saturday, would devastate the economy. But he revealed no details of his plans to respond to tariffs – plans he has repeatedly said could include tens of billions of dollars in bailouts for workers and businesses. Mr. Ford said he would let the U.S. President act first.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles launches her election campaign in Toronto, on Jan. 29.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Ms. Stiles, the Official Opposition Leader, whose NDP caucus had 28 seats at dissolution, launched her campaign at a cultural centre in Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood. A former policy director for a union representing film and TV workers, she pitched herself as the best person to fight back against Mr. Trump, flanked by rows of cheering NDP candidates.
Citing the government’s 99-year lease with a foreign-owned spa and waterpark operator at Ontario Place, on Toronto’s waterfront, which requires $2.2-billion in taxpayer subsidies, she said Mr. Ford is a bad negotiator.
“Doug Ford has shown he can’t negotiate his way out of a paper bag,” Ms. Stiles said.
She pledged a “strong income-protection program” for workers affected by tariffs and vowed to work with Ottawa to “find allies in the democratic world.”
Ms. Crombie, a former Mississauga mayor who is trying to lead her party back from the brink after two elections left its seat count in the single digits, appeared in Barrie, an hour north of Toronto, where the PCs’ Doug Downey defeated a Liberal by a slim margin in 2022.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, right, and Barrie Liberal candidate Dr. Rose Zacharias speak to the media during a campaign stop outside the Barrie Primary Care Campus in Barrie, Ont., on Jan. 9.Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Instead of a large rally typical of a campaign launch, Ms. Crombie spoke alongside new local Liberal candidate Rose Zacharias, an emergency department physician and former president of the Ontario Medical Association (OMA).
Both wore white-and-red baseball caps reminiscent of those worn by Mr. Trump and, in recent days, by Mr. Ford, but their caps read: “Real Leaders Fix Healthcare.”
The OMA said Wednesday that the family doctor shortage has shown “no improvement” in the past year. About 2.5 million Ontarians do not have a family doctor, and there are 2,600 vacant physician positions across the province.
Ms. Crombie told reporters her plan would see the hiring of 3,100 family doctors and would cost about $3-billion – the same amount the government is spending to send $200 cheques to most Ontario residents.
On the eve of the election call, the PCs promised to spend an additional $1.4-billion to ensure every Ontarian has a family doctor or nurse practitioner. They announced the plan with Jane Philpott, the physician and former federal Liberal health minister who leads the province’s primary-care action team.
On Wednesday, the two opposition leaders also trained their sights on each other.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner at the intersection of Oxford and Wharncliffe in London, Ont.Nicole OSBORNE/The Canadian Press
Ms. Stiles said the Liberal Leader, who recently pledged tax cuts and in the past said she would take a “centre-right” approach, wouldn’t be out of place in Mr. Ford’s cabinet.
“Bonnie Crombie doesn’t want to get rid of Doug Ford,” she said. “Bonnie Crombie wants to be Doug Ford.”
The Liberal Leader shot back, saying the NDP had done too little to hold the government to account.
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, whose party has two seats, launched his re-election bid in Toronto on Wednesday before heading to his Guelph riding. He said the election is “a referendum on Doug Ford’s poor track record of the past seven years.”