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Premier Doug Ford is dragging Ontarians into a needless election in the dead of winter in pursuit of more power. The election call, more than a year ahead of time, is a cynical play for power, and on polling day, Feb. 27, Ontarians should rebuff him.
Ford says he needs a “strong mandate” to deal with the threat posed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan to impose punishing tariffs on Canada, but he doesn’t need any such mandate. He already has it. In 2022, Ontarians handed him a huge majority, giving the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) 83 of the 124 seats in the legislature. Today, as a result of vacancies and other actions, the PCs have 79 seats, the NDP 28 and Liberals nine. The Green Party has one.
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By any measure, that is as strong a mandate as any leader can get, and Ford has such control at Queen’s Park, there is little he wants to do that he can’t.
Besides, every political leader in Ontario fully understands the dire consequences for the province, and indeed Canada, if the Trump tariffs are implemented. There is therefore every expectation that all political leaders will come together to take the necessary steps to protect Ontario. Nothing so far suggests otherwise, and there is absolutely no reason to call a snap election to seek a new mandate. Ford is merely exploiting the threat of tariffs to scare Ontarians. We should resist.
But since the election campaign is now fully engaged, we should oblige Ford by turning it into a referendum on his handling on the family-doctor crisis that has left 2.5 million people without primary care, a figure that could rise to more than four million by 2026.
Ford is merely exploiting the threat of tariffs to scare Ontarians.
Think of the hundreds of people lining up in bitter cold in Walkerton, Ont. recently, hoping to find a doctor. It is therefore not surprising that a day before the election call, Health Minister Sylvia Jones announced $1.4 billion in new funding over four years to connect two million people with a family doctor or primary-care team.
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Of course, the announcement is an election ploy. The crisis has been boiling since Ford was first elected in 2018. The problem has become worse — not better — under his watch, so just days before the election campaign gets under way, presto, Ford finds more than a billion to throw at the problem. Raise the issue in the campaign, and Ford will point to the money. But there are no guarantee things will actually change.
The fact is, facing a weak opposition, ahead in the polls, and armed with a full war chest, Ford has been angling for this moment, and Donald Trump’s tariff threats provided a convenient cover.
Over the next month, you’ll hear time and again that Ford needs to get a bigger majority so he’ll be in a strong position to face Trump and save Ontario. “I am asking the people for a strong mandate — a strong, stable, four-year mandate that will outlive and outlast the Trump administration,” Ford wrote in a recent op-ed. “President Trump needs to know that for as long as he is president, I will be on the other side of the table ready to protect Ontario.”
Don’t buy it. It’s just talk. The tariff war, if it happens, will not be Ford’s to lead. As Ontario premier, he will have significant input into whatever position the feds adopt. But this is a federal responsibility, and you will notice that all the work so far has been done by federal officials in meetings and discussions with counterparts in the Trump administration. Like other provinces, Ontario has been an interested party watching from the outside.
When the time comes to face Trump, the person “on the other side of the table,” won’t be Ford, but the prime minister of the day. That will be either the next Liberal leader, whoever that is, or Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Let Ontarians understand that on voting day, when they consider Ford’s request for more power.
Mohammed Adam is an Ottawa journalist and commentator. Reach him at nylamiles48@gmail.com
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