2025 Ontario general election


General elections were held on February 27, 2025, to elect the 124 members of the 44th Parliament of Ontario. Premier Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives were re-elected to a third consecutive majority government, the first time a party has done so since 1959. The PCs increased their vote share to 43%, however lost three seats compared to 2022. The New Democratic Party led by Marit Stiles retained its status as the Official Opposition, albeit with four fewer seats than in 2022 and while finishing a distant third in the popular vote. The Liberal Party finished second in the popular vote but won just fourteen seats, remaining in third place in terms of seat count since 2018, although this five-seat increase was enough for the Liberals to regain official party status in the legislature for the first time since 2018. Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie however failed to win her seat in Mississauga East—Cooksville, losing to the PC candidate.
The Greens held their two seats, including leader Mike Schreiner, although suffering a slight drop in popularity. Incumbent independent MPP Bobbi Ann Brady held her seat in Haldimand-Norfolk, winning the second-largest margin in the province.

Background

Under the Ontario Elections Act, general elections must be held on the first Thursday in June in the fourth calendar year following the previous general election. As the previous election was held on June 2, 2022, this election was anticipated to be held on June 4, 2026. However, it had been speculated since early 2024 that Premier Doug Ford would call a snap election to take advantage of a lead in the polls and fundraising, as well as a desire to hold the election before the next federal election, which, at that time, the federal Conservative Party under Pierre Poilievre was considered extremely likely to win. This speculation was fueled in May 2024, when Ford refused to commit to the June 2026 date when asked by reporters at multiple press conferences for confirmation.
On January 23, 2025, multiple news outlets reported that Ford would visit Edith Dumont, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, on January 29 to ask for the 43rd Provincial Parliament to be dissolved, triggering an election to be held on February 27. This speculation was confirmed by Ford at a press conference on January 24. On January 28, he met with Dumont; the Provincial Parliament was formally dissolved, with a writ of election issued the next day. The election cost approximately $189 million.

Electoral districts

The Electoral Boundaries Act, 2015 increased the number of electoral districts from 107 to 122, following the boundaries set out by the federal 2013 Representation Order for Ontario, while preserving the special boundaries of the 11 seats in Northern Ontario set out in the 1996 redistribution.
The Far North Electoral Boundaries Commission, appointed in 2016, recommended the creation of the additional districts of Kiiwetinoong and Mushkegowuk—James Bay, carved out from the existing Kenora—Rainy River and Timmins—James Bay ridings, which accordingly raised the total number of seats to 124. This was implemented through the Representation Statute Law Amendment Act, 2017.
With the 2022 Canadian federal electoral redistribution, Ontario was allotted 1 additional seat in the House of Commons. On August 1, 2024, Premier Ford announced that Ontario would break with recent tradition and not adopt the federal electoral boundary changes for the next provincial election. As Northern Ontario lost a seat in the federal process, further adjustments would have been needed to maintain their extra provincial representation, which would have resulted in an extra additional riding.

Timeline

2022

2023

2025

  • January 28: The lieutenant governor dissolves the Legislature.
  • January 29: Writs of election are issued, officially starting the campaign.
  • February 13: Nominations close.
  • February 14: First leaders' debate, organized by Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities.
  • February 17: Second leaders' debate, organized by Broadcast Consortium.
  • February 27: Election day.

Candidates

Incumbents not standing for re-election

As of the candidate nomination deadline, 12 incumbent MPPs chose not to run in the 2025 Ontario election:

Campaign

Ford's PCs launched their campaign in Windsor, in front of the Ambassador Bridge. Stiles' NDP launched their campaign in Toronto, while Crombie's Liberals launched their campaign in Barrie. Schreiner's Greens launched their campaign with a speech in Queen's Park.

Issues

In January 2025, Ford began to state that he would need a "clear mandate" from voters to respond to the tariffs on Canadian imports to the United States threatened by the newly re-elected President Donald Trump. A video taken on the day of the 2024 US presidential election was later released showing Ford stating that he was "100% happy" that Trump won, until Trump threatened tariffs on Canada.
IssuePCNDPLiberalGreen
Education
  • Invest an additional $830 million a year to clear the repair backlog within 10 years while keeping up with school maintenance needs.
  • Create a universal School Food Program and use fresh food prepared and grown in Ontario.
  • End the practice of streaming.
  • Invest in Francophone education in French school boards and French immersion programs in the English system.
  • More school transportation funding.
  • Clearing the backlog in school repairs, supporting students with special needs, and extending OHIP to cover mental health care.
    • Energy and Environment
  • Permanently cutting the provincial tax on gas by 5.7 cents per litre and on diesel by 5.3 cents.
  • Working with Indigenous communities to conserve 30% of natural areas by 2030.
  • End reliance on fossil fuels, invest in low-cost renewables and build climate-friendly transit options.
    • Healthcare
  • Investing $1.8 billion more to connect everyone in Ontario to a family doctor and primary care.
  • Hiring of at least 15,000 nurses over the next three years to ensure safe staffing ratios and end the reliance on private agencies.
  • Expand healthcare in Northern Ontario by hiring 350 doctors, including 200 family physicians and 150 specialists.
  • Establish a Northern Command Centre to manage capacity across the North.
  • Fast-track solutions in the first 100 days—more family health teams, shorter specialist wait times, and flexible care options.
  • Clear the path for 13,000 internationally trained doctors and increase residency spots province-wide.
  • Guarantee a Family Doctor for all Ontarians by 2029.
  • Two new hospitals in Huntsville and Bracebridge.
    • Housing
  • Create 60,000 new supportive housing units.
  • Double the supply of permanently affordable homes, legalize fourplexes and increase density around transit, and provide funding for non-profit and co-op housing providers.
  • Reintroduce rent control, stopping unethical evictions.
  • Upload shelter funding to the provincial government.
  • Eliminating the provincial Land Transfer Tax for first-time homebuyers, seniors downsizing, and non-profit home builders.
  • Scrapping Development Charges on new middle-class housing, which can add up to $170,000 on the price of a new home, and replacing them with a Better Communities Fund to ensure that the province invests in and benefits from sustainable municipal growth.
  • Introducing fair, phased-in rent control similar to Manitoba, resolving Landlord-Tenant Board disputes within two months, and establishing the Rental Emergency Support for Tenants Fund to help vulnerable renters avoid eviction during financial emergencies.
  • Allowing for the construction of fourplexes and four-storey buildings as of right across the province and sixplexes in cities over 500,000, and midrise buildings of up to 6-11 storeys on transit corridors and main streets.
  • Removing development charges on homes, condos and apartment units under 2,000 square feet that are built within urban boundaries, and creating an Affordable Communities Fund to cover municipalities’ housing infrastructure costs.
  • Removing the Land Transfer Tax for first-time homebuyers.
    • Agriculture
  • Immediately increasing funding to expand business risk management programs by $150 million annually.
  • Prioritizing Ontario-grown food by developing local procurement guidelines for public sector purchases, and establishing a fund to increase local processing capacity.
  • Creating an AgTech Innovation Fund.
  • Introducing a provincial program to pay farmers for environmental goods and services by working with organizations such as ALUS.
  • Establish an Ontario Foodbelt to protect farmland.
    • Infrastructure
  • Investing up to $15 billion more over three years to speed up key capital projects, including widening the QEW between Burlington and St. Catharines.
  • Providing another $5 billion for the Building Ontario Fund, for a total of $8 billion, to invest in housing, long-term care, energy, transportation and municipal infrastructure projects.
  • Increasing the Community Sport and Recreation Fund by $300 million to help build more rinks, arenas, sports centres and other community infrastructure.
  • $56 million to upgrade and repair Highway 174 prior to it being uploaded to the province.
  • $50 million to upgrade rural roads and highways outside the downtown core.
    • Social assistance
  • Double ODSP payments.
  • Overhaul WSIB.
  • Expand workers’ health care benefits so they can receive the treatments they need, including mental health care.
  • Create a Monthly Grocery Rebate
  • Forcing large retailers to publicly post when they raise prices more than two per cent in a week.
  • New watchdog to enforce competition laws and keep food prices fair.
  • Double ODSP payments.
    • Taxation
  • Cut the income tax rate for the middle-class.
  • Eliminate sales tax on home heating and hydro bills.
    • Transportation
  • Investing more than $200 billion to build roads, highways, transit and other infrastructure projects while investing over $2.5 billion to train more than one million people for better jobs and bigger paycheques in the skilled trades.
  • Upload the upload Ottawa LRT system to the provincial government.
  • More than $50 million to design and build a new interchange at Highway 416 and Barnsdale Road.
  • $80 million to support the Kanata North Transitway.
  • Taking tolls off Highway 407 East, which runs between Brock Road in Pickering and Highway 115 in Clarington.
  • Legislation to ban use of congestion pricing on all provincial and municipal roadways.
  • Upload the Ottawa LRT system to the provincial government.
    • Tariff response
  • $10 billion in cash-flow support for Ontario employers.
  • $3 billion in payroll tax and premium relief.
  • $120 million to support approximately 18,000 bars and restaurants.
  • $40 million for a new Trade-Impacted Communities Program.
  • $300 million to expand the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit.
  • $600 million for the Invest Ontario Fund.
  • Create a Premier's Task Force on the Economy with business, labour and civil society.
  • Invest in retraining opportunities in post-secondary and the skilled trades.
  • Removing the cap from the Risk Management Program.
  • Promote interprovincial cooperation and break down trade barriers.
  • Launch a Buy Ontario campaign to promote Ontario goods.
  • Direct Ontario government-funded agencies to procure locally.
  • Negotiate a joint federal-provincial income assistance program to support people whose livelihoods are impacted by tariffs.
  • Support Canada's national tariff response.
  • Offer a bonus to nurses and doctors who return to Canada from the U.S.
  • Remove the hidden tax on home building and introduce phased-in rent control.
  • Cut the small business tax rate in half, 3.2% to 1.6%, and increase the eligible income threshold.
  • End the Starlink contract with the provincial government.
  • Immediately create a ‘tariff taskforce’ that works across party, jurisdictional and sectoral lines to defend Ontario workers, jobs and companies in trade negotiations.
  • Create an investment tax credit.
  • Create a Protect Ontario Fund for businesses disproportionately impacted by tariffs.

    • Analysis

    Summary

    Parties1st2nd3rd4th5th
    803410
    2712768
    147732
    21410213
    1132
    126
    885
    3
    2
    2
    2
    1
    1
    1

    Seats changing hands

    Of the 124 seats, 13 were open because of MPPs who chose not to stand for reelection, and voters in only 9 seats changed allegiance from the previous election in 2022. Three incumbents ousted from their parties opted to stand as Independents, but none were re-elected.
    There were 9 seats that changed allegiance in the election:
    ; PC to Liberal
    ; NDP to PC
    ; NDP to Liberal
    ; NDP to Green
    Of the 9 seats that changed hands:

    Student Vote results

    Student Vote elections are mock elections that run parallel to real elections, in which students not of voting age participate. They are administered by CIVIX Canada, in partnership with Elections Ontario. Student Vote elections are for educational purposes and do not count towards the actual results.
    ! colspan="2" rowspan="2" | Party
    ! rowspan="2" | Leader
    ! colspan="3" | Seats
    ! colspan="3" | Votes
    ! Elected
    ! 2022
    ! ±
    ! #
    ! %
    ! Change