The Ontario election campaign is in full swing — which you may have noticed because of an unsolicited text message from PC Leader Doug Ford (more on that below).
Here’s a quick look at how the race unfolded during the first full week of campaigning. We’re keeping things simple here, but be sure to follow the links for deeper dives.
We’ve also answered a few questions from our CBC News audience about the election and our coverage.
That you, Doug?
Several people have emailed asking us to look into text messages claiming to be from Ford himself.
In a world where digital spam and scams seem relentless, you may be skeptical about the messages — especially because follow-up texts solicit your postal code with a promise to message again on election day with information about where to vote.
But the PC campaign has confirmed they’re behind the texts, which Elections Ontario says are perfectly legitimate under the province’s campaign rules. The messages are a modern get-out-the-vote tactic, and the PCs deployed the same strategy during the 2018 and 2022 elections.
If a text from any party directs you to the wrong voting place, you can submit a formal complaint to Elections Ontario, a spokesperson said.
“Elections Ontario is your trusted source for accurate election information. If you have any questions or come across something you’re unsure about, visit us at elections.on.ca for the facts you can trust,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.
Tariff anxiety, relief, and… more anxiety
The week started with the spotlight on tariffs set to take effect Tuesday.
By Monday morning, Ontario was preparing to yank U.S. booze off the LCBO’s shelves and rip-up a contract with Elon Musk’s satellite internet company.
And all four of the province’s major political parties were promising to fight for you and stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump.
Then at 3 p.m., Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Trump got on a call and agreed to a 30-day reprieve.
Canadians across the country took a collective deep breath, and Ontario said it would pause any retaliatory measures for the time being.
With the threat of tariffs temporarily delayed — though there’s still a potential calamity on the horizon — the question is, what will this election be about?
Ford has made it clear he wants to continue to wage this electoral battle mainly on the question on tariffs.
But does the reprieve offer his rivals a chance to shift the focus to other critical provincial issues? Read more about that here.
The Ontario NDP, Liberals and Greens are all trying to shift the narrative of the election toward other major issues for voters. CBC Queen’s Park reporter Mike Crawley explains how.
The week in missteps
Like Trump, Ford has a huge, baked-in advantage of dominating the attention cycle. He gets to be the PC leader, but he’s also still the premier and a prominent voice in this tariff debate.
But in a hot mic moment this week that his opponents pounced on, Ford revealed he had been a Trump fan and was “100 per cent” happy when Trump was re-elected. That is, until the president “pulled out the knife and f–king yanked it into us,” Ford said.
After speaking to reporters on Monday, PC Party Leader Doug Ford said he was initially “happy” Donald Trump won the U.S. election until he threatened Canada with hefty tariffs.
After disavowing his previous support for Trump during a campaign stop, Ford said: “I’m sure there’s millions of Canadians that thought ‘OK, this might be a good change down in the U.S.’ — [but] it’s been a disaster… I’d never support that guy in my entire life.”
His political rivals quickly jumped on the hot mic comment. The Ontario Liberal campaign ran an attack ad the next morning, replaying the moment multiple times in a one-minute spot.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles used it as a chance to repeat her campaign message that there are two different Fords.
“I think the fact that he keeps saying one thing in front of you and another thing behind doors tells you everything you need to know about Doug Ford,” she said.
The next day, Ford was peppered with questions about his comments during a stop in Ottawa. The day after that, his campaign started limiting queries to one question and one follow-up from six reporters at each event.
After being captured on video saying he was happy President Donald Trump had won the most recent U.S. election until the threat of tariffs, PC Leader Doug Ford told reporters Tuesday that he thought “things might be a little different” with this Trump administration.
The week was not without gaffes for Crombie, either.
In front of cameras in Hamilton, she read out an email slamming the PCs for converting a Fort Erie emergency room to an urgent care centre.
The problem? That change was made back when the Liberals were still in power.
As the context became clear to her in real time, Crombie let out an “oh, gosh” and then skipped ahead to another part of the email.
Meanwhile, The Trillium fact-checked the claim plastered in block letters across the Liberals’ campaign bus that 11,000 Ontarians had died while waiting for surgery last year. The analysis found the number is seriously inflated.
Asked about the discrepancy, Crombie pointed to the persistence of ‘hallway health care’ in Ontario.
“So we stand by our statistics,” she said.
What the polls say
Eric Grenier, the polling expert behind TheWrit.ca, dropped by the Metro Morning studio to provide an update on where the polls stand.
Spoiler alert: Ford’s PCs have a commanding lead.
Grenier’s analysis is interesting, as he aggregates the many polls that are out there to draw his conclusions.
PC Leader Doug Ford is leading the provincial election campaign, but by how much? Polling expert Eric Grenier breaks down the latest numbers.
Let’s hear from the strategists
Metro Morning‘s political panel also teed off on where the parties stand, and how the campaign picture is changing:
Metro Morning’s political panel debated the reason behind Doug Ford’s momentum in the Ontario election campaign — and which of the major party leaders could prove to be his strongest rival.
Are Ontario’s ads offside during the campaign?
Spotted on American TV: pro-Ontario ad spots.
The province is running a multi-million dollar ad campaign with hopes of dissuading the U.S. from levying tariffs.
Normally government advertising is paused once an election is called, but the province’s auditor general — who oversees the ethics of ad spending — confirmed this type of advertising is OK.
“In the case of this particular ad campaign, we determined that it is exempted from the prohibitions during the writ period because it is related to revenue-generating activity and is time-sensitive,” a spokesperson said.
Answering some reader questions
Can we get a platform, please?
Multiple readers have written us to ask about where the major parties stand on the issues that really matter to them.
“I was wondering if you guys are planning to do policy summaries for this year’s provincial campaign,” Danny in Toronto wrote, for example.
The short answer is: yes! We’re hoping to launch our platform tracker feature early next week.
One challenge is that none of the four major parties have released their full platforms yet (likely a consequence of the snap election call).
But we’re doing our best to bring you a first version that will be updated as we go.
In the last provincial election, the PCs chose not to release an official platform at all, and instead pointed to their budget as their list of promises. Ford said they don’t intend to release a platform this time either, so we’ll need to rely on the fall economic statement (basically a mini-budget released in October) and any new commitments that come up on the campaign trail.
Can you vote online?
Multiple people have emailed to ask if they can vote online.
No, you can’t vote online in Ontario.
There’s also a whack of email from snowbirds and sun-seekers wondering how they’ll cast a ballot before they leave the country.
Option 1, if you’re still here: head to a local election office to get a special ballot.
Option 2, if you’re not: apply to vote by mail as soon as possible.
Read more on this here, or head over to the Elections Ontario website for information about voting.
Debates are coming
The four major party leaders will be in North Bay next Friday for the first debate of the campaign, focused on issues that matter most to Northern Ontarians.
It’s set for Friday at 1 p.m. ET and we’ll have live coverage here at CBC News.
Markus Schwabe, the host of CBC Radio’s Morning North, will moderate the debate and pose questions on behalf of the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities.
