Doug Ford

When the Ontario Progressive Conservatives took control of the province in 2018, much of the credit for their victory was given to the former Liberal ...

"That's the incremental edge that he's giving the Tories in this election campaign," Lyle said. "And he's actually shown that he knows how to co-operate with the federal Liberal government," Miljan said. But that loses the votes." "A lot of politicians, having made a shift, then would have felt they have to stick with that. But the situation that Ford and his party find themselves in now is a far cry from just over a year ago. "This last budget is the biggest we've ever had. "It is important not just to do well, but to mean well. And enough Ontarians feel Ford did his best for the right reasons that he is now poised for re-election." We've kind of collectively moved past the pandemic," Coletto said. Initially, Ford, like many other leaders, saw this popularity numbers soar in the early months of the pandemic. This is not to say that Ford is beloved across the province or that he doesn't have a significant number of detractors. There are still large swaths of Ontario voters who don't support the PC leader — many who may still be angered by his handling of the COVID-19 crisis.

This is the great hope of Ontario's Progressive Conservative party, that this is an election about Doug Ford, just like the federal election was about ...

He also does not eat red meat. Rob Ford, who died of cancer in 2016, was a different sort of political creature. That same year, Doug was elected councillor in Rob’s newly vacated Etobicoke ward, the suburban heartland of Ford Nation around the Humber River in west Toronto. With a tight enough focus on the future, Enns said, Ford’s PCs are well placed to survive retrospective criticism about their pandemic management. Like others, such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, he seemed thoroughly thumped by the sheer scale of the crisis. Article content Article content “Get it done,” Ford repeated, as he reflected on the province’s long period of hardship, by which he did not mean the pandemic, but the 15 years when the Liberals were in power before him. Article content Article content He wraps the series today with Doug Ford. Article content

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner will participate.

Mr. Ford and the PCs have campaigned as the party to “get it done” by building highways and hospitals, and attacked the NDP and Liberals as being against infrastructure projects. Mr. Del Duca has been focusing his attention on moving forward with a new team of candidates (running two short of a full slate) and targeting the decisions made by Mr. Ford while in government, including Bill 124 which capped wage increases of public-sector workers. Expect this to be brought up by the other party leaders if Mr. Ford again relies on notes. Topics up for discussion Monday haven’t been released, but cost of living and affordability will be among issues on the minds of voters watching the debate. Want to hear more about the Ontario election from our journalists? After a request from the PC Party, the debate organizers decided to allow the leaders to bring a binder on stage on Monday. So far in the campaign, the NDP’s Ms. Horwath has tried to separate her party from that of the Liberals and PCs by calling out their past records. Meanwhile, Mr. Del Duca said his focus is on promoting the new Liberal team (with only two MPPs elected in 2018 running for re-election) and a new plan rather than looking back. (The NDP and Liberals are both against the controversial Highway 413, but have voiced support for other highway improvements and transit projects). Questions to the leaders were created by a group of journalists from these outlets, with input from prospective voters. The debate will be moderated by political journalists Steve Paikin and Althia Raj. The first debate last week in North Bay focused on issues facing municipalities in Northern Ontario.

Doug Ford's request to bring notes Monday to a televised debate between the leaders of Ontario's political parties has not been denied — although it did ...

“I’ll be honest, I’m a bit mystified at all the hullabaloo over this,” Galbraith said. “I think that part of the way people dilute potential leaders is in their confidence, their seeming ability to handle things that they haven’t been prepped to handle.” “Nobody elected Doug Ford to handle a pandemic because nobody knew the pandemic was coming,” he said.

The battle to watch during Monday night's debate will be the one between NDP Leader Andrea Horwath and her Liberal counterpart, Steven Del Duca.

Del Duca and his team are making the claim that only Liberals can beat Conservatives, and are making a historical pitch to become the progressive champion. That’s not what Horwath or Del Duca want though, they want to challenge Ford for power, something neither of them has seriously done yet. CBC’s poll tracker predicts a slightly smaller majority for Ford at 72 with the Liberals at 29, NDP at 22 and Greens at one. Ford has led in every single public opinion poll released since the campaign began. It’s not that the two leaders will attack each other all night, though we should expect some of that, but rather that they’ll battle for second place. Let’s be honest, though, he has no chance of winning the election and becoming premier.

Doug Ford's request to bring notes Monday to a televised debate between the leaders of Ontario's political parties has not been denied — although it did ...

“I’ll be honest, I’m a bit mystified at all the hullabaloo over this,” Galbraith said. “I think that part of the way people dilute potential leaders is in their confidence, their seeming ability to handle things that they haven’t been prepped to handle.” “Nobody elected Doug Ford to handle a pandemic because nobody knew the pandemic was coming,” he said.

By David Coletto. As the four main party leaders prepare to debate tonight, we completed our second survey of the Ontario election campaign yesterday ...

When asked which party they think will win the election, 42% think the PCs will win while 22% think the Liberals will. Among those who think life would be better if the PCs were replaced, only 13% would vote PC while 41% would vote Liberal and 35% would vote NDP. Among those who think replacing the PCs would have little impact on their lives, the PCs lead the Liberals by 12. The survey was conducted with 1,000 eligible voters in Ontario from May 12 to 15, 2022. If Ford’s negatives continue to rise, expect the desire for change to increase as well. The Tories have a 7-point lead and hold strong leads outside Metro Toronto and among older voters. The Liberals are slightly ahead among those aged 30 to 44 while the NDP and Liberals are tied among those under 30. For the Liberals and NDP, these numbers will need to be much higher if they have any chance of defeating the government. Among those change voters, the NDP has now opened up a 5-point lead over the Liberals (39% to 34%). Last week, the Ontario Liberals were slightly ahead. Among those who think their life would be worse if the PCs were replaced, the PCs are ahead by 52 points. For the PCs, this confirms a lack of “friction” in the campaign. Despite the shift in Mr. Ford’s personal numbers, he remains well ahead on which leader would make the best premier. They also lead by 4 among those following it only a little.