Ford has wanted an early election or some time. Pictured: Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Photo Credit: Doug Ford/X.
The melodrama was thick in the air. When Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced last week his plans to hold a snap election on Feb. 27, he proclaimed: “We need a mandate from the people to fight against Donald Trump’s tariffs, the attack that is coming against our families, our businesses and our communities. The decisions people make in the next 30 days will affect themselves, their children and their grandchildren for the next 25 to 30 years.” Ford also asked Ontario voters for “the largest mandate in Ontario history.”
Wow. Sounds like Old Testament kind of stuff. In reality, Ford has been chomping at the bit to call an early election, wanting to take advantage of his current strong polling numbers and the weakness of the opposition, and not take chances by waiting until the next scheduled election in June 2026. Also, pretty much everyone expects the economy to worsen in 2025, and incumbent governments are typically punished in difficult economic times. The only thing holding Ford back was the possibility of a federal election being held at about the same time. Trudeau’s retirement announcement and proroguing the federal Parliament ended that speculation and gave Ford a window through which he leaped. The prospect of Trump tariffs gave him an extra push.
Looking back at the Ford government’s record, most of their key promises have not been fulfilled. Any Ontarian that expected tax reductions will be disappointed, as other than a break on the gas tax and the elimination of fees to renew license plate stickers, Ontarians are still paying very high personal and business income taxes. The top two income tax brackets in Ontario remain unindexed to inflation. The Ford government may view this as politically smart as it could be viewed as soaking the “rich,” but the top two brackets are not actually all that high at $150,000 and $220,000.
These are the tax brackets in which people like doctors, engineers, professionals and entrepreneurs can be found – you know, the folks we claim to want to keep in Ontario and attract even more of. The highest marginal personal income tax rate in Ontario is just under 54 per cent when federal and provincial income tax rates are combined. When any government takes more than half of what you earn it should be viewed as nothing short of outrageous. Now that President Donald Trump is in office south of the border, promising lower personal and business taxes, the siren song tempting our highest earners south will be louder than ever.
Although Ford claims to favour smaller government and fiscal prudence, his record has been anything but prudent. Ford has consistently spent more than planned in successive budgets and, looking at data since 1965, Ford rates as one of the biggest spenders in Ontario history. Ontario currently pays more than $1 billion monthly just to service the massive and growing debt, which will surely translate into tax increases for Ontarians in future. Ford has been promising to spend “tens of billions of dollars” to protect folks against Trump tariffs. This is the last thing we need, as it just means our already excessive debt will be getting even worse.
Having an election now also means Ford gets to play against the Trudeau record instead of waiting until a new prime minister is in place. Yet when the facts are examined, the Ford government shares a lot of similarities with the Trudeau regime in terms of big spending, growth in government while public service quality declines and further investments in pointless climate-related areas that accomplish little but waste lots of taxpayer dollars.
High energy costs were one of the problems that finally brought down the previous Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne. A promise to actually reduce electricity costs was a key plank in the Ford Progressive Conservative election platform in 2018, yet Ford has continued the Wynne practice of subsidizing electricity prices from general revenues so the illusion of lower electricity prices can be maintained. This is now costing over $6 billion annually, which just gets added to the growing debt we will be leaving for future generations. Despite the fact that our foolish investments in too much wind and solar energy capacity from the Liberals’ Green Energy Policy continue to haunt us and keep our electricity costs overly high, the Ford government still wants to build more wind and solar capacity that is unreliable, expensive and unnecessary.
Although Ford is using the Trump threats as an excuse to call an election he desperately wants, some of the Trump promises look like they will prove immensely expensive for Ontarians and embarrassing for the Ford government. One good example is electric vehicle (EVs) battery plants, in which Ford and his cronies invested billions of taxpayer dollars. This now looks to be a complete waste as Trump cancels Biden administration expenditures into EVs and other “green” energy industries. When Trump first threatened to impose tariffs on Canadian goods, Ford responded by saying he would cut off electricity exports to a handful of U.S. states, which would in fact punish Ontario electricity consumers with increased prices much more than it would the United States.
Finally, by calling an election at a pivotal time in Canada-U.S. relations, Ford is ensuring that the attention of the Ontario government will be focussed on electioneering, not negotiating a better deal with our American trading partners. By all indications this early election will pay off politically for Ford with a third majority government. But pretending this is all about enabling Ford to be in a better position to negotiate with the US is pure, unadulterated bunk.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
