Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative party has secured a second majority government after winning the 2022 Ontario election on June 2.
The PCs easily secured a majority, with Ontario election results showing the party set to pick up 83 seats — well above the 63 needed to keep the legislature firmly blue. Andrea Horwath announced her resignation as NDP leader after the party nabbed 31 seats, while Steven Del Duca stepped down as Liberal leader after failing to win his sea. The Liberals, at just eight seats, fell short of official party status. Green leader Mike Schreiner was the sole member of his party to be elected.
Ford returns to office after a tumultuous first term of government in Ontario defined by the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which the province saw significant deaths in long-term care homes and the longest school closures in the country.
The PC victory is set to have major consequences for Ontario’s environmental policies, from highways to farmland to carbon emissions.
Doug Ford’s environmental track record since 2018 Ontario election victory
Policy affecting climate change and other environmental concerns was hit hard during Ford’s first term. The premier ran on a promise to eliminate cap-and-trade carbon pricing and, indeed, it was his first action in office, before he was even sworn in. The Ford government also accelerated plans for two controversial new highways through the protected Greenbelt, a decision Environment Minister David Piccini defended in an interview with The Narwhal. The province’s auditor general also criticized the government for weakening protections for endangered species to make things smooth for industry.
After coming into power in 2018, the Doug Ford government scrapped existing electric vehicle buyer incentives and ripped out charging stations. In the months before the election, the government began promising to make Ontario a mining and manufacturing hub for the future-forward automobiles. Illustration: Carol Linnitt / The Narwhal
PCs make pledges for drivers ahead of the 2022 Ontario election
The one emissions-reduction angle the PCs are backing whole heartedly, if haphazardly, is electric vehicles. Soon after being elected, the Ford government scrapped multiple incentives for buying electric cars, but it’s now promising to make Ontario a mining and manufacturing hub for the future-forward automobiles. Just before the launch of the 2022 Ontario election campaign, Ford announced a number of measures that will make driving cheaper right away, including eliminating licence plate renewal fees and, if he wins, a temporary cut to the gas tax.
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