Doug Ford Vows "To Stare Down the Threat of Trump's Tariffs" as Ontario Tories Win 3rd Straight Majority Government

 

To the surprise of few, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives have won a third consecutive majority government under Premier Doug Ford. It marks the first time Ontario voters have given the Tories three consecutive majority governments since Leslie Frost was Premier during the 1950s at the height of the Big Blue Machine.

As of this writing, the Tories are leading or elected in 81 seats with the NDP leading or elected in 26 seats, the Liberals leading and elected in 14 seats along with 2 seats for the Green Party and one independent.

While Ford won a convincing a majority (with 43% of the vote), he had actually hoped to increase the Tories' seat total calling an election a year early. The NDP remains as official opposition under Marit Stiles despite garnering 18.5 % of the vote (down 5% from the 2022 election) and losing 2 seats, but she will take it. While the Liberals earned just under 30% of the vote (29.9%) and regained party status for the first time since 2018, their leader Bonnie Crombie lost her bid to win a seat to Queens Park in her Mississauga area constituency. It remains to be seen if Crombie can remain leader without a seat in the legislature.

As for Ford, he vowed "to stare down the threat of Donald Trump's tariffs" which are due to take effect on Tuesday. Earlier this month, Ford was caught on a hot mic stating he was 100% behind Trump before the tariffs:

On election day, was I happy this guy won? One hundred per cent I was. Then the guy pulled out the knife and f****** yanked it into us.

I suspect that in the short term, Ford will remain a bulwark against Trump should the tariffs go into effect this time around. However, the longer the tariffs remain, and the more Ontarians become unemployed and take it out on him, the more likely I think it is that Ford will try to make nice with Trump. After all, Ford Nation is the Canadian version of MAGA albeit more MAGA-lite.

Nevertheless, given how right-wing populist parties around the world have shown common cause with President Trump, it is refreshing to see a conservative campaign be so vociferously anti-Trump. Then again, Canadians are a different breed when it comes to the United States.