Ontario voters have chosen to end 15 years of Liberal Party rule by electing Doug Ford's Tories to a majority government. This marks the first time the Tories have been in power since Mike Harris and Ernie Eves were at the helm from 1995 to 2003. As of this writing, the Tories are elected or leading in 73 seats. Andrea Horwath's NDP becomes the official opposition elected or leading in 40 seats while Kathleen Wynne's Liberals have been reduced to 7 seats. Should the Liberals not reach 8 seats they will lose official party status at Queen's Park. Wynne has been re-elected in her own seat, but she will likely step down as party leader. It is also worth noting Ontario Green Party leader Mike Schreiner has been elected in his constituency in Guelph. Schreiner will sit in the Ontario legislature as an independent, but the Greens continue to make inroads as Elizabeth May has at the federal level.
Although the Tories did not release a platform until late in the election campaign and when they did it wasn't costed, this didn't make a difference to voters who wanted a change of government. Besides how many political parties form a government only to break their promises? It did appear that the NDP had gained at the expense of the Tories many voters viewed Horwath as Wynne on steroids and wanted something different both in style and substance.
It will be interesting to see how Premier-elect Ford handles President Trump's decision to impose tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum much of which is manufactured in Ontario. Rather than align himself with Justin Trudeau, I believe he will try to carve out a relationship with Trump and try to mitigate the impact of the tariffs. Ford might rue this path, but he probably can't afford to be too cozy with Trudeau in the eyes of Ford Nation.
As I wrote a few days ago, I'm not sure I would have voted Tory if I were still living in Ontario. But I don't have the same antipathy towards Ford that I do with Trump. As always we shall see.
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