2025 Ontario Election Summary

As Ontario’s 44th general election comes to a close, here are the results on who will form the next Ontario government.

Result – PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY

Within six minutes of the polls closing, the Progressive Conservatives (PCs) were confirmed as the winners, and just three minutes later, they were declared a majority government.

The New Democratic Party (NDP) will form the Official Opposition.

The Liberals have gained official party status after surpassing the 12-seat threshold.

A significant update to note is that Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie lost her race in Mississauga East-Cooksville. However, the Liberals gained five new seats, including St. Paul’s from the NDP, Nepean, Ajax, and Etobicoke-Lakeshore from the PCs, as well as Don Valley North from Independent MPP Vincent Ke. The PCs have also gained Algoma-Manitoulin, and Hamilton Mountain.

Twenty-nine days ago, Ontario's Premier, Doug Ford, announced a snap election to seek a renewed mandate from the people of Ontario. Premier Ford emphasized the importance of strong leadership during these challenging times and expressed his ambition for the largest mandate in Ontario’s history. He believes this mandate is necessary to effectively address the ongoing economic uncertainties caused by the threat of tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.

This election is happening at a critical time for Ontarians. Just this week, President Donald Trump reaffirmed his intention to impose a 25% tariff on most Canadian goods, starting on March 4, 2025. The tariffs on Canadian products were last extended on February 3, 2025, following a phone call between President Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Initially set to take effect on February 4, 2025, the implementation of the tariffs was delayed by 30 days.

Critics of the Progressive Conservative Party, including the leaders of the Liberal, NDP, and Green Parties, have argued that the election's timing was politically advantageous for Ford, as he was well-prepared and leading in the polls.

Ford has responded that his main priority for Ontario is economic growth. He is positioning himself as the only leader who can effectively stand up to Trump and fight for the jobs, businesses, and communities of Ontario.

The main priorities that the PCs focused on during their campaign include the following:

Protect Ontario

• Fighting Back Against Trump's Tariffs
  • Removing American-made products from LCBO shelves and restricting other retailers from buying U.S. products by leveraging the LCBO’s role as an exclusive wholesaler.
  • Restricting U.S. companies from Ontario government procurement.
  • Implementing regulatory fees and restrictions on the export of electricity to the U.S.

• Building Ontario's Economy
  
  • Creating and protecting jobs.
  • Immediate support for workers, businesses and communities hit by tariffs.
  • Building more highways and transit faster.
  • Advocating for pipelines, rail lines, and other critical infrastructure projects that support greater export opportunities.

• Protecting Workers
  • Investing $1 billion more to expand the Skills Development Fund.
  • Investing $100 million more for the Better Jobs Ontario Program.
  • Allocating $40 million to mobilize action centres to provide immediate transition supports for workers.
  • Investing $165 million for a “Learn and Earn” initiative.
  • Launching a new publicly available labour market survey.
  • Collaborating with the federal government on employment supports.

• Keeping Ontario Competitive
  • ‍Investing $600 million more to the Invest Ontario Fund.
  • Allocating $500 million to create a new Critical Minerals Processing Fund.
  • Investing in nuclear energy, including refurbishing existing nuclear energy generation at the Pickering and Darlington generating stations and expanding nuclear energy generation at Bruce Power.
  • Allocating $30 million to launch the Hydrogen Innovation Fund.
  • Continuing to enhance the production of medical isotopes.
  • Accelerating infrastructure projects by standardizing road building technical standards across the province, centralizing all government capital projects and contracting under an enhanced Infrastructure Ontario with accountability to the Ministry of Infrastructure.
  • Building more homes with measures such as standardizing development study requirements across the province, ensuring all municipal standards comply with the Ontario Building Code, and improving certainty by developing a province-wide tool to accelerate land use planning and Building Code permit approvals.

• Cleaning Up Our Streets
  • Investing $50 million to expand the OPP’s Joint-Air Support Unit with two additional H-135 helicopters.
  • Enforcing the ban on drug consumption sites within 200 metres of schools and licensed child-care centres.
  • Investing $530 million to create 27 new Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART) Hubs.
  • Restoring mandatory minimum sentencing for serious crimes.

• Delivering Better Care and Services
  • Investing an additional $88 million to expand the Learn and Stay Grant to cover more medical students more quickly.
  • Continuing to invest $743 million to address immediate health care staffing needs.
  • Removing red tape and helping those who want to work in Ontario with new “As of Right” rules. This will make Ontario the first province to allow health care workers registered in other provinces and territories to immediately start caring for Ontarians, without needing to first register with one of Ontario’s health regulatory colleges.
  • Investing another $1.3 billion to build 30 new schools and 15 school expansions across Ontario, creating more than 25,000 new student spaces and more than 1,600 new licensed child-care spaces.

What's Ahead

In the coming days, Premier Ford will appoint cabinet ministers to various portfolios to shape the direction of the new government’s policies and mandates.

The new government will outline its legislative agenda with a Speech from the Throne, delivered at the opening of the new session of the Ontario Legislature.