Ontario Election: Voters to Choose Between Third-Term Government and New Leadership

People walk in to vote in the Ontario provincial election at a school in Mississauga, Ont., on Feb. 27, 2025. The Canadian Press/Nathan Denette

Election day has arrived in Ontario, with voters from all corners of the province casting their ballots to determine the next provincial government.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is seeking a third consecutive term as premier after calling a snap election late last month.

Ontario was not set to hold a general election until June 2026 but Ford said he wanted a “strong mandate” from the populace to address the tariff threats posed by U.S. President Donald Trump against Canada.

Ford said the province would need to spend billions of dollars to bolster the economy should the tariff threats materialize, which would compromise his 2022 election pledge to achieve a balanced budget.

Parliament was dissolved Jan. 28, paving the way for the 29-day election campaign to commence on Jan. 29.

Who Is Running?

There are several  parties running in today’s election race, but the main parties are the The Progressive Conservatives (PCs), the Liberals, the NDP, and the Green Party. The New Blue Party of Ontario and the Ontario Party, which won a combined 4.5 per cent of the total vote in 2022, will also be on the ballot, as will some independents.

Here’s a look at the parties in today’s election and what they stand for.

Progressive Conservatives

Ford is leading the PCs into the “tariff election” in the hopes of achieving a stronger majority government than his previous term when his party held 79 out of 124 seats at Queen’s Park.

Ford has said the key motivation for his decision to call a snap election stems from a lack of strong federal leadership to confront Trump’s threat of a potential 25 percent tariff on Canadian exports. Ford has said he wants a robust four-year mandate that will not only help him in navigating negotiations with the United States, but will outlast the current U.S. administration.

Ford is running on a “Protect Ontario” platform that includes a $5 billion Protect Ontario Account to respond to potential tariffs.

He has also promised to spend $1.8 billion to connect an additional two million people to a publicly funded family doctor or primary care team by 2029 and to build more houses and more roads, including a new expressway that will run beneath Highway 401. He has said the infrastructure projects will boost the economy and create jobs.

NDP

The NDP’s Marit Stiles is leading her party for the first time into an election. While the party is the Official Opposition in the legislature before the election, polls indicate that status isn’t guaranteed, with the Liberals gaining in support.

Stiles has focused heavily on health care, promising to spend $4 billion on several initiatives, including finding a family doctor or nurse practitioner for every Ontario resident. The NDP has said it would implement a Buy Ontario campaign and defend the auto sector in the face of potential U.S. tariffs.

The party also pledged to focus on finding housing to end encampment living and would construct more affordable housing units.

Liberals

The Liberal Party’s Bonnie Crombie is facing her first election since taking the leadership reins in December 2023. The Liberals will be looking to reclaim official party status after poor performances in the previous two elections. The party held just nine seats in the legislature prior to the election call.

Crombie has spent the majority of her time on the campaign trail focused on health care and transit safety. She has promised to link every Ontarian to a family doctor at a cost of $29 billion over four years and to make all subway stations in the Toronto region safe and affordable.

She has also vowed to double the Ontario Disability Support Program and index it to inflation, tackle interprovincial trade barriers, and scrap the provincial land transfer tax for first-time homebuyers and seniors looking to downsize.

Green Party

Longtime Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will be looking to boost his party’s fortunes today, winning more than the two seats it had during the previous mandate. He won his own seat in the 2022 election and the party gained another during the 2023 byelection in Kitchener Centre.

The Greens have promised to cut income taxes for individuals earning less than $65,000 and families bringing in less than $100,000 per year, establish a task force aimed at addressing tariffs, introduce an investment tax credit and implement a Buy Ontario strategy.

The party has also pledged to protect watersheds in rural Ontario and create an Ontario Foodbelt to protect farm land.

New Blue Party

The New Blue Party of Ontario describes itself as the “only true blue option on the ballot.” The party led by Jim Karahalios has said it wants to strengthen Ontario’s borders, cut red tape and taxes for businesses, and make the province more competitive on the global stage.

The party has also vowed to stop “woke” activism by removing critical race theory, gender identity theory, and all diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) from health care, education, and other government-run bodies.

Ontario Party

The Ontario Party led by Derek Sloan is running on “faith, family, and freedom” and the “need to make Ontario Prosperous Again.”

The party has said it would  “negotiate in good faith” with Trump on tariffs and trade issues to protect Ontarians and the economy. It also advocates for keeping biological males out of women’s sports and promises to make women single-sex sports and single-sex locker rooms a reality if elected.

What the Polls Say

An Abacus Data poll conducted Feb. 24 to 25 places Ford’s PCs in the lead with 45 percent of the decided vote, once again putting the party in majority territory.

The poll placed Liberal support at 29 percent, the NDP at 16 percent, and the Green’s at 5 percent. An additional five percent of those polled said they did not plan to vote for any of the four main parties.

The Progressive Conservatives are ahead in all regions, boasting a 26-point lead in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (not including Toronto), a 15-point advantage in southwestern Ontario, and a statistical tie with the Liberals in both Toronto and eastern Ontario.

At dissolution of the Ontario legislature, the PCs held 79 out of 124 seats at Queen’s Park. The NDP had 28 seats and the Liberals nine. Six seats were held by independent MPPs and two by the Green Party.

Advance polling ended in the province on Feb. 22 with only 678,789 voters—or 6 percent of eligible Ontarians—casting their ballot, according to Elections Ontario.

This marks a change from previous elections. Nearly 10 percent of voters cast an advance ballot in 2022 and nearly 7 percent did so in 2018.

The polls open across the province today at 9 a.m. Voters have until 9 p.m. to cast their ballots.