Well, Ontario, welcome to the provincial elections of 2025.
Rumorean for a long time, very debated and now officially here, on Wednesday marks the beginning of a four -week campaign before the voters go to the polls on February 27.
The province was not supposed to see its next vote until June 2026, but Prime Minister Doug Ford has read the political tea leaves and chose to risk a call of early elections.
If this news surprised you, don’t worry. Here are answers to some key questions to help you catch up.
Why do we have an early choice?
In his reflections prior to the elections, Ford repeatedly insisted that he needs a new mandate to potentially spend “tens of billions of dollars” to support workers who could be beaten by US tariffs.
That reasoning raises the question: Ford literally needs a nod of voters to spend such money?
The short answer is no. The leaders of the main opposition parties have said that they would support Ford by doing what needs to preserve people’s livelihood during a prolonged commercial war with the United States.
The Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, will meet with Lieutenant Governor on Tuesday to request the dissolution of the Provincial Parliament and activate an early election for February 27. At a press conference on Tuesday morning, Ford said he needs a strong mandate of the electorate to deal with US president Donald Trump. CBC’s Lane Harrison has the details.
Consensus as that is rare in Queen’s Park these days. That said, Ford doesn’t even need that support. Its progressive conservatives have 79 of 124 seats in the Ontario Legislature, a substantial majority.
That means that you can approve any legislation you want, even if the opposition resists. Only past fall, for example, Ford used that majority to accelerate several controversial bills through the legislature.
In the period prior to the electoral campaign, the strategists told CBC News that progressive conservatives were in a solid position to send voters to the polls. This is because public opinion polls have put them ahead of their closest political rivals, and Ford has more recently assumed a national profile when Ontario faces the threat of US tariffs.
Progressive conservatives have also spent the last years building a larger campaign war chest than any of the opposition. The celebration of an election now also means that, unless the RCMP announces something soon, the inhabitants of Ontario are directed to the surveys without any important development in the controversy of the run in green.
What do opposition parties say?
In a nutshell, the other parts are not delighted with an choice. In fact, the three opposition leaders criticized the idea in the speeches to the Municipal Rural Association of Ontario earlier this month, framing the call of the early elections as a cynical power by a prime minister that already has a mandate of voters.
“I have not heard a single person say: ‘Do you know what we need in addition to this economic bomb that comes and this political agitation and chaos in Ottawa? Yes, we need a provincial election,” said NDP leader Marit Stiles. to a laughter of the crowd. “It makes no sense, that’s why nobody says it.”
Ontario has announced $ 1.4 billion in new funds to connect each Ontario resident with a primary medical care provider for spring of 2026. That occurs two days before Prime Minister Doug Ford triggers an electoral campaign of 28 days . Lorenda Reddekopp of CBC has the details.
“President Trump’s tariffs should be treated as a threat, not as an excuse to call unnecessary early elections,” said Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie in her speech. “Doug Ford has the mandate to defend the people of Ontario.”
Crombie in particular has accused Ford of trying to be re -elected before the RCMP completes his research on the Swaps Land Belt Belt.
“In this critical moment we need unity, not a choice. We need stability, not a choice. And we need a prime minister focused on his work, not on his work,” said Green Party leader Mike Schreiner to the crowd.
Would this be happening without Donald Trump?
Few people can answer this question definitely, but one thing is sure is that the possibility of an early election in Ontario has Trump’s second administration about the second administration.
CBC news First informed in May 2024 That Ford would not rule out an early electoral call. In the subsequent months, speculation only grew with ads such as $ 200 “taxpayer refund checks” that come with a price of $ 3.2 billion for the province.
Last year, a veteran conservative strategist said that if an early election call was coming, the Ford government would have to give voters a good reason to call it.
Fast advance six months and Trump is elected president, a victory that quickly followed with the promise of tariffs that threaten to send Canada’s economy to a tail.
Ford has said that these rates would hit Ontario as difficult, which potentially puts 500,000 people without work. That, said Ford, would require billions in government spending. And the people of Ontario would have to give him the mandate to do so.
How many seats does a match need to win the elections?
Time of a quick lesson.
There are 124 seats in the Ontario Legislature. That makes 63 the magic number for a party to form a majority government.
Before dissolving the legislature, Ford PCs had 79 seats. In an internal memorandum of the party sent last week, Ford Cabinet Chief emphasized “the stronger the mandate, the better”, which suggests that the PC hope to return to the government with an even greater majority.
Public opinion surveys suggest that another PC majority is definitely possible, but politics can be an unpredictable business, and early elections, historically, have sometimes been a risky gambit.
If the PC fall to 62 seats or anywhere lower, the time of Ford as leader of a majority government would end.
From the dissolution, the PCs had 79 seats, the NDP 28, the liberals nine, the Green Party two and there were six MPP independent sitting in the legislature.