Premier Doug Ford heading to Windsor after calling snap election

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Premier Doug Ford is in Windsor on Wednesday to kick off his Progressive Conservative election campaign after triggering an early provincial election.

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Ontario voters will go to the polls on Feb. 27, almost 16 months ahead of schedule.

Ford sparked the early election on Tuesday afternoon with a visit to Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont and a request for her to dissolve Ontario’s 43rd parliament. The proclamation she signed doing just that took effect at 4 p.m. Tuesday.

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Ford’s visit to the border city to launch his ‘Campaign to Protect Ontario’ will include meetings with union officials and a local manufacturer.

Predictions of a snap election have been swirling since last May, when Ford refused to rule it out.

More recently, he has insisted he needed to call an early election to secure a stronger mandate from the public to take on the tariff threats from U.S. President Donald Trump. The president is threatening to impose 25-per-cent tariffs on all Canadian goods as early as Saturday.

Anticipating Ford’s move, MPP Lisa Gretzky (NDP — Windsor West) held a media conference Tuesday morning to criticize Ford for calling an election so far ahead of schedule.

“Instead of fighting for workers, Doug Ford is coming to Windsor to launch a campaign to protect his own job,” she said. “People are worried about how they will put food on the table and pay their rent or mortgage.

“They need their provincial government to stand up for them, to work with all parties, workers and business owners to fight whatever comes our way, not use Trump’s threats for their own political gain by calling a snap election nearly a year and a half ahead of schedule.

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“It’s time for solidarity not division.”

NDP Leader Marit Stiles, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner have all said calling an election more than a year early is a waste of time and money. They point out that Ford already had a majority government and that they would support any emergency assistance to confront the economic hit of any new U.S. trade tariffs.

Ford says he plans to act in his capacity as premier, including visiting Washington, D.C., in February with a group of other premiers, while also campaigning as leader of the Progressive Conservatives.

— With files from Canadian Press

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