Ford claims ’stronger mandate’ after election victory thanks to bump in vote share

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Premier Doug Ford claimed Monday he has a stronger mandate after last week’s election despite winning fewer seats than in 2022.

Ford’s Progressive Conservatives took 80 seats in the election, down from 83 three years ago but more than the 76 seats they won in 2018.

Ford’s PCs won 42.97% of the vote last Thursday with more than 2.1 million votes, up from a 40.8% share in 2022 and a 40.5% share in 2018.

“We have a stronger mandate than we’ve ever had before,” Ford said at a news conference.

Ford said at the start of the election campaign that he needed a stronger majority to implement his plans to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, who is set to impose tariffs on Canadian goods Tuesday.

During the campaign, Ford pledged billions of dollars to stimulate Ontario’s economy should Trump implement sweeping tariffs. He based much of his campaign on being the best person to deal with Trump over the next four years.

Ford said he will not be able to recall the legislature until mid-March at the earliest because of rules laid out by Elections Ontario.

Opposition leaders have said Ford called the $189-million snap election more than a year early for his personal gain while he was well ahead in the polls.

The PCs lost one of three seats in Etobicoke, the Toronto inner suburb where Ford lives, to a Liberal.

“I’m competitive,” Ford said when asked if that loss hurt. “I want to win a whole 124 seats. Some you lose by a little bit. Some you win by a little bit.”

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The Liberals won 14 seats, regaining official party status for the first time in seven years, though Leader Bonnie Crombie failed to win her riding in Mississauga East–Cooksville.

The Liberal executive council unanimously voted over the weekend to support Crombie staying on as party leader. More than 1.5 million Ontarians voted for the Liberals in last week’s election, nearly 30% of the vote share. Yet they remain behind the NDP, which won 27 seats despite only pulling in some 900,000 votes.

In 2018, the Liberals won just seven seats, falling one short of the eight seats needed at the time to achieve party status.

Ford raised that threshold to 12 seats shortly after winning the 2018 election but said Monday he wouldn’t change the party status rules again.

“They went from a minivan up to a larger van,” Ford said of the Liberals’ election results.