Progressive Conservative Get together wins third consecutive majority in vote dominated by commerce tensions.
Canada’s Ontario province has re-elected Premier Doug Ford’s ruling conservatives in an election closely targeted on commerce tensions stoked by United States President Donald Trump.
Ford and his Progressive Conservative Get together (PC Get together) cruised to their third consecutive legislative majority on Thursday after looking for the “largest mandate in Ontario historical past” to guard the financial system of Canada’s most populous province from Trump’s tariffs.
The PC Get together had received at the very least 74 seats within the 124-member Legislative Meeting of Ontario and was main in seven different districts as of Thursday evening, based on a tally by the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
“We’re going to verify we shield the folks of Ontario and shield their households, and their jobs and companies,” Ford, 60, advised CTV Information after his win.
“I’ll struggle tooth and nail towards Donald Trump. I’ll promise you that.”
Ford, who usually sported a “Canada is Not for Sale” hat and styled himself as Captain Canada all through his election marketing campaign, referred to as the vote greater than a yr early, arguing that he ought to have a stronger mandate to navigate years of potential financial chaos underneath Trump.
“That is gonna be a battle for the subsequent 4 years,” Ford mentioned final month as he referred to as the snap election. “I wish to make certain I’ve a powerful mandate to outlast President Trump.”
Throughout his marketing campaign, Ford twice travelled to Washington, DC, and made quite a few appearances on US networks similar to Fox Information and CNN to foyer towards the tariffs and place himself as a spokesman for Canada as a complete.
Earlier this week, he mentioned he would impose a tariff on electrical energy despatched from the province to the US if Trump went forward together with his threatened commerce measures.
Ontario, which surrounds Toronto and is residence to about 40 p.c of Canada’s inhabitants of some 40 million folks, is very depending on commerce with the US.
Greater than 80 p.c of Ontario’s exports went to the US in 2023, making it the province most reliant on American customers after New Brunswick and Alberta, based on an evaluation by Scotiabank.
Trump, who had agreed to a 30-day pause on his threatened tariffs on Canada and Mexico pending negotiations on border safety, mentioned on Thursday that the 25-percent levies would go into impact on March 4.
Trump, who has additionally steered that the US might soak up Canada as its 51st state, mentioned on Fact Social that he had made his determination as illicit medicine similar to fentanyl have been persevering with to cross the border at “unacceptable ranges”.
