Trudeau's Liberals Get Destroyed by Conservatives In Ontario Election, Lose Official Party Status

Doug Ford, the brother of troubled former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, is on course to be elected the premier of Canada's most populous province.

Mr Ford's centre-right Progressive Conservatives (PC) are projected to defeat the Ontario Liberals, who have been in power since 2003.

The 53-year-old former city councillor was close to his brother Rob, who died in 2016 of a rare cancer.

A populist politician, he invited comparisons to US President Trump.

Mr Ford is known for his plain-speaking style and attacks on media and the elites - whom he once described as "drinking champagne with their pinkies in the air".

Mr Ford has voiced support for Donald Trump, though he has dismissed the direct comparison and has been careful to avoid controversial comments during the hotly contested race for Ontario.

The final days of the campaign saw the PCs in a neck-and-neck battle with the left-leaning New Democrats, with most polls showing them holding a knife-edge lead over their rivals.

Mr Ford ran a populist campaign, promising to fight for "the little guy" and to make life more affordable for Ontario residents by cutting energy cost, slashing the price of petrol, and lowering provincial income tax.

He also vowed to challenge federal carbon pricing plans and to repeal the province's cap-and-trade programme.

[...]As Toronto mayor, Rob Ford gained international notoriety for his scandals, outlandish public acts, and drug use, including admitting to smoking crack cocaine.

He won the mayoral election in 2010 with votes from the so-called "Ford Nation" - a political movement of mainly suburban voters around Toronto that formed the core of his support.

During Rob Ford's time running Toronto, the brothers were inseparable, with Doug Ford once referring to himself as "co-mayor".

A businessman who inherited the family's label-making business, Mr Ford only recently entered provincial politics.

While Kathleen Wynne was re-elected in her own riding of Don Valley West, the Liberals fell just shy of the eight seats needed to maintain official party status in the province of Ontario, with MPs elected in just seven ridings.

Recognized parties are entitled to speak during debates and are guaranteed the opportunity to pose questions during question period. They receive public money to establish party offices to help them with research and other organizational tasks.

“They don’t get money for research, at the legislature. They don’t get representation on legislative committees. It means that they don’t get recognized during question period as a party, which means they’ll have a hard time raising questions,” said Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto.

The Conservatives are promising to balance the budget over a “responsible time-frame” even as they pledge to cut taxes and increase spending on health care and infrastructure. Ontario’s debt has ballooned under the Liberal Party, soaring to 37 percent of gross domestic product, from about 27 percent when they took power in 2003. Ontario, home to some of Canada’s biggest companies and its financial services hub, is the largest sub-sovereign borrower in the world.

Ford succeeds Kathleen Wynne, a five-year incumbent who conceded last week that she was headed for defeat. Her party had grown deeply unpopular amid rising electricity prices and voter fatigue. Ford’s main rival was New Democratic Party Leader Andrea Horwath, 55, who pitched tax hikes on corporations and high earners to finance expanded social programs. The Conservatives and NDP were neck and neck in most polls based on popular support, though Ford’s backing was more widely spread across the province, leading to more seats.

Ford also pledged to scrap the province’s cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, setting up a showdown with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has vowed to ensure every Canadian province adopts some form of carbon tax. Ford also wants to get rid of the chief executive officer of Hydro One Ltd., the provincial utility that was sold to investors through an initial public offering in 2015. It’s not clear a premier has the power to do that as the government holds a 47 percent stake.