ontario election 2022

Doug Ford re-elected Premier of Ontario with a majority government

It's official, the 2022 Ontario election results are in and Doug Ford has come out on top, re-elected as Premier as his Progressive Conservative party quickly roared to victory.

Most polls closed at 9 p.m. and it didn't take long for multiple major news outlets to proclaim that Ford will hold onto his position at the helm of provincial leadership, preliminary results showing his PC party winning a majority government.

The NDP holds onto its position as the official opposition in the 43rd provincial parliament, though Andrea Horwath has stepped down as party leader.

The Ontario Liberal party has taken another beating; its leader Steven Del Duca lost his battle for his home riding of Vaughan-Woodbridge and the party failed to regain official party status.

Del Duca has also stepped down as party leader, leaving only Doug Ford standing at the helm of a major Ontario party in a major shakeup of provincial politics.

All three of the major party candidates had cast their ballots in their home ridings by 11 a.m., though there were some concerns early on in the day when Elections Ontario acknowledged temporary glitches and changes to polling locations that left some voters in the lurch.

Another glitch prevented political parties from collecting polling data, though this was also corrected by mid-afternoon.

According to Elections Ontario, other issues ranging from power outages to fires, and even backed up sewers hampered operations at 27 polling stations, which remain open after most polls close, some as late as 11 p.m.

Even as some are still out casting their ballot, the 57-year-old Ford is celebrating his second term as premier, which he secured with a campaign pledge to "get it done" following his tendency to use simple populist slogans and buzzwords to build on his folksy but firm political image.

 

Doug Ford continued the family dynasty tradition of taking in the evening's news from the relative conform of his mother's Etobicoke house, departing for the Toronto Congress Centre where he delivered his victory speech to a crowd of cheering supporters.

Doug Ford won over (much of) Ontario in 2018 with promises of "reopening the province for business," and oh boy did that one not age well.

This platform included lower taxes, more jobs, and who can forget the ill-fated promise of one-dollar beers. Something apparently not on offer at Ford campaign headquarters. 

 

The so-called "get it done" platform for his 2022 campaign similarly spoke to suburban, exurban, and rural Ontario voters with promises of new highways and cheaper gas, as well as a pledge to hire more health care staff (but not give them a raise or repeal legislature they continue to fight against.)

While not as controversial as Ford’s 2018 campaign, where he flouted conventions by ignoring journalists and hiring his own reporter, it was still a very Fordian campaign full of declined interviews and tense clashes.

Lead photo by

@fordnation


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