Are you ready for two elections in 2025?
We believe the premier might not be, at least after his timing plans took a hit.
Heck, Chatham-Kent’s own Steve Pinsonneault, just elected to the Ontario Legislature last spring might not be either. It will be two elections in one year for him.
But, alas, expect to go to the polls this year for federal and provincial elections.
Premier Doug Ford was all set to call a spring election – a year ahead of his mandate – to seek re-election and a possible third majority government.
And it appears federal parliament will implode with a non-confidence vote to push Justin Trudeau out of power. His bitter breakup with now former Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland has all but doomed his government to an early election. Monday’s announcement on his pending resignation sealed the deal.
Poll numbers indicate the Liberals will get kicked to the curb.
At least there was to be a federal election this year regardless. It was to happen on Oct. 20.
As for the provincial election, it’s an attempt to take advantage of the current political landscape for Ford to retain power.
Prior to the pandemic, it seemed inconceivable Ford would be re-elected to a second term. Heck, people were just waiting for him to implode. But then he was a solid leader during the pandemic and emerged in time to win a majority government.
After that, pandering to donors led to the Greenbelt scandal, and Ford looked vulnerable. Add to that the fact we were years removed from the Wynne and McGuinty Liberals’ 15 years of rule. These were the people who force fed wind turbines on this part of the province and whose actions jacked up the price of electricity for the average consumer.
But recently, kickback cheque to taxpayers aside, Ford has again taken on a leadership role, this time standing up to Donald Trump, the next U.S. president. Trump has babbled about instituting tariffs against a host of his country’s trading partners, and Ford has fired back, threatening to cut off the supply of energy to the U.S. from Ontario.
In 2023, this province sent enough juice south of the border to power up 1.5 million U.S. homes.
So Ford stood up while Trudeau visited Trump in Mar-a-lago and was dubbed governor of the U.S.’s 51st state.
Get ready to head to those polls in the spring, and probably fall, whether you want to or not.
