How the leaders' debate affects the rest of the Ontario election campaign
CBC
Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford's campaign slogan is "Protect Ontario," but during the province-wide leaders' debate on Monday night, he seemed to switch it to "Protect My Lead."
Ford played it safe for the 90 minutes of televised debate time, and he played it even safer after the broadcast by skipping out on the scheduled post-debate news conferences.
That's the second straight time Ford has refused to participate in a post-debate Q and A, as he did the same thing on Friday after the northern debate. This means Ford has now gone more than a week without taking any questions from reporters on Ontario soil, smack-dab in the middle of an election campaign that lasts just four weeks.
It's all part of a very clear Ford strategy that was also on display during the debate: sticking to his single-minded campaign message of protecting Ontario from the threat of tariffs, and spending as little time as possible talking about anything else.
Among Ford's rivals, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie was the most aggressive at attempting to knock him off his talking points.
The debate format gave each leader one opportunity to go one-on-one against each other for two minutes, and Crombie started off her segment with Ford with a bang.
"Doug, I have one question for you and one question only," Crombie said, as she appeared on a split screen with Ford. "After seven years of lies, why should anyone trust a word you say?"
Crombie — who spent some of her childhood living in a rooming house — ratcheted up her attack on Ford near the end of the debate with a comment about him being born into wealth.
"You don't get the plight of real people because you were raised privileged, with a silver spoon in your mouth," Crombie said. "You didn't have to work for anything. You had a company handed to you, Doug, so you don't understand how expensive things are today. I bet you couldn't tell me what the cost of eggs are."
If Ford didn't know the price of eggs before the debate, guaranteed that his handlers will tell him by the next time he faces reporters.
Crombie is attempting to chip away at the "For The People" persona that Ford has successfully portrayed throughout his time in politics. That's a rather difficult task.
Laryssa Waler, Ford's former communications director, says Liberal and NDP messaging has typically failed to hurt Ford because it's been attacking a version of him that she says doesn't exist.
"You can't convince everyday voters that Doug Ford doesn't care about you, because he genuinely does," said Waler in a recent interview.
When NDP Leader Marit Stiles had her two-minute opportunity to go one-on-one with Ford, in contrast to Crombie, she spent nearly 45 seconds on preamble, before getting around to tackling him on per-student funding in the school system.
The City of Edmonton is developing a wildfire strategy to mitigate risks within the municipality and help neighbouring regions, the city's emergency advisory committee heard Wednesday.
About 20 workers, students and local MPP candidates gathered outside Hamilton's Mohawk College Wednesday — where a fifth of full-time jobs have been cut since December — to call on the province to better fund post-secondary education.
In a busy race to Queen's Park, nine candidates are vying for the Sarnia—Lambton seat — a riding that's been conservative for nearly 20 years.
There's just over a year left in the Canada-Alberta child-care agreement and it's shaping up to be a rocky one for some parents, who — for this first time in the history of the agreement — will see their fees increase as a new phase of the program rolls out.
B.C. MLA Adrian Dix says he gets texts, emails, and even stopped at his local Safeway. He says people urge him to cut off power or even water to the U.S.
B.C. cities, in general, would be among the least vulnerable in Canada if U.S. President Donald Trump follows through on tariff threats, according to new data from the Canadian Chamber of Commerce.
Here's where and when you can vote in advance polls in Waterloo region, Guelph and Wellington County
Voting day is Feb. 27 in the Ontario election, but people can cast their ballots this week in advance polls.
Staff with Summerside Electric say they're not getting many updates from Maritime Electric after a failure at the utility's Sherbrooke substation over a week ago caused strain on the city's electrical grid.
The N.W.T.'s public utilities board has ordered the Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) to start paying Naka Power $48,500 per month to use a transmission line in the Hay River area, starting March 1.
Ideologically motivated violent extremist groups are using antisemitism in a bid to recruit followers and inspire violence, according to a report from Canada's spy agency.
It's a move that could reshape North American trade.
Ontario's main political parties are competing for the hearts of voters by appealing to their wallets, with a mix of tax cuts and money-back rebates pitched as helping with the cost of living.
With one full week to go before voting day, Elections Ontario is working to reverse a recent downward trend in voter turnout, which set a record low of 43 per cent the last time Ontarians went to the polls in 2022.