Ontario’s Liberals and NDP are utilizing a pause within the tariff menace from the USA to start a brand new chapter within the provincial election, specializing in points equivalent to well being care and training, however Doug Ford doesn’t seem prepared to show the web page.
The Progressive Conservative chief’s marketing campaign announcement Tuesday was ostensibly a few provincial-specific concern, a promise to tackle billions of {dollars} in prices for Ottawa’s light-rail transit system, however he spent a lot of his time hammering dwelling his tariff warnings.
“We’ve averted an absolute disaster, at least for now,” Ford stated in Ottawa.
“But make no mistake, Canada and Ontario continue to stare down the threat of tariffs. Whether it’s tomorrow, in a month, or a year from now, President Trump will continue to use the threat of tariffs to get what he wants.”
U.S. President Donald Trump introduced Monday, hours earlier than threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian items had been set to take impact, that he would put them on maintain for no less than 30 days.
Ford had cited the specter of tariffs as the explanation he known as the snap, $189-million election for Feb. 27, saying he wanted the “largest mandate in Ontario’s history” with the intention to advocate for the province’s pursuits within the face of a punishing commerce struggle, and to spend tens of billions of {dollars} on provincial stimulus.
The opposite events have stated an election effectively over a yr earlier than the June 2026 mounted date shouldn’t be crucial as a result of they’d assist stimulus spending, and Ford already has a majority mandate to guard Ontario’s pursuits.
Liberal Chief Bonnie Crombie, who has steered the election is an try by Ford to “cling to power,” stated the 30-day tariff reprieve could be very revealing.
“Doug Ford lost his reason for an election,” she stated at a marketing campaign cease in Brampton, Ont.
“So I’d like to understand, Doug, why did you call this election? What is your motivation behind it? The people of Ontario want to know why you called an unnecessary, expensive election in the middle of the winter, when you should be at your desk working to protect the people of Ontario, working to provide the basics for them.”
The Liberals have been attempting to make well being care the central marketing campaign concern, touting their promise to ensure each Ontarian a household physician inside 4 years, and splashing a message about 2.5 million individuals having no household physician on the aspect of their bus travelling the province.
“That’s what I think this election is about,” Crombie stated Tuesday. “The failure of Doug Ford, who said he would end hallway medicine, but he didn’t get it done. He said he’d cut our taxes, he didn’t get it done. He said he’d build housing, and he didn’t get it done. So let’s get something right. Let’s invest in our health-care system and ensure that everyone in this province has access to a family doctor.”
Nonetheless, the Liberals took the chance to make hay with a caught-on-camera second, with Ford telling supporters on Monday he was “100 per cent” completely happy that Trump received the American election, earlier than he betrayed Canada on tariffs.
The Liberals shortly turned the video of Ford into an assault advert, questioning what else Ford says when he thinks members of the general public should not listening.
Ford defended his feedback Tuesday, saying he meant that he “thought things might be a little different,” and that Canada and the U.S. had been going to maneuver ahead with Trump again within the White Home because the economic system was robust, and he believes in those that decrease taxes on individuals and companies.
NDP Chief Marit Stiles was additionally in Ottawa, and promised to spend extra money within the training system, hiring extra workers, supporting college students with disabilities, including $830 million per yr for varsity repairs, and making a common college meals program.
Ford is attempting to “con” voters into considering the snap election is all about tariffs, however it must be about Ford’s report since he was first elected in 2018, Stiles stated.
“Ontarians know what it’s like to live in this province after seven long years of Doug Ford and the Conservatives,” she stated.
“They need a government who’s going to be there to try to relieve the cost of things, the burden that’s on them, that’s going to actually turn things around again. I don’t think they’re buying what Doug Ford is selling, and I think that the fact that we’ve got a pause right now just means that it’s an opportunity for us to think a little bit more about the kind of Ontario we want.”
– With information from David Baxter and Dylan Robertson in Ottawa, and Maan Alhmidi in Brampton, Ont.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed Feb. 4, 2025.
Allison Jones, The Canadian Press
Ontario Liberal Chief Bonnie Crombie stands with native candidates as she visits Golden Grain Bakery throughout a marketing campaign cease in Brampton, Ont., Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Younger
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