Ford's PCs look for historic Ontario election win while NDP, Liberals appear locked in battle for 2nd
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It's election day in Ontario. PC leader Doug Ford is after his third straight majority, which would be the first in the province in more than 65 years.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie, NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Green Leader Mike Schreiner are campaigning for a change.
Polls close across most of Ontario at 9 p.m. ET. We'll have the results here as they come in.
CBC News is live now with special coverage of the results. Tune in through the player above.
Updates
February 28
8 minutes ago
Meet the team
Rhianna Schmunk
As mentioned, we've got the CBC's Dwight Drummond, Rosie Barton, Mike Crawley and David Common bringing you everything you need to know about election results from our broadcast centre in Toronto.
They're joined by three expert panellists: Liberal strategist Ashley Csanady, who's been on leave leading communications for Bonnie Crombie, and former NDP strategist Marion Nader. She spent 10 years at Queen's Park as the party's press secretary.
Finally, we have Conservative strategist Vivek Prabhu, who was part of the first two Ontario PC campaign war rooms, with a focus on digital content and advertising.
8 minutes ago
Riding to watch: Oshawa
Lucas Powers
This largely blue collar riding with deep ties to the auto manufacturing sector has historically been a battleground between the NDP and PCs. New Democrats have held the seat since 2014, when Jennifer French defeated former longtime PC incumbent Jerry Ouellette.
French's 2022 margin of victory over her PC challenger was just 747 votes, and now Ouellette is back on the ballot for the PCs.
Both parties have put a lot of resources into the riding, with Stiles making visits and several high profile PC cabinet ministers doorknocking alongside Ouellette.
This is a riding where the threat of U.S. tariffs could play a big role in the final outcome. Another factor is the Liberal campaign dropped their candidate in Oshawa over an offensive social media post that led to mounting backlash from the Sikh and LGBT communities.
15 minutes ago
Riding to watch: Kitchener Centre
Lucas Powers
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner has held his Guelph seat since 2018 and it was only in 2023 that the party picked up its second-ever seat, in Kitchener Centre. Former local councillor Aislinn Clancy won the riding in a byelection in 2023, nabbing it from the NDP in a landslide.
The Greens are looking to hold this seat and prove it was not a byelection fluke. Since the early 2000s, this riding has been held by all three parties.
22 minutes ago
Riding to watch: Toronto–St. Paul's
Lucas Powers
This riding was once thought of as a Liberal stronghold, but NDP took it in the great Liberal defeat of 2018. A star Liberal candidate came close in 2022, and the party has another prominent candidate this time around in former news anchor Stephanie Smyth. If the Liberals are to pick up seats this election, this is one of the possibilities.
24 minutes ago
Watch our election night special
John Rieti
Voters, we've got a great election night show ready for your streaming pleasure.
The great Dwight Drummond is hosting, with Mike Crawley delivering analysis. We've also got Rosie Barton putting questions to a panel of political insiders.
David Common has somehow memorized details from all 124 ridings, so he's in charge of results.
Watch live in the player above, on YouTube or CBC Gem. We've also got an ASL version.
28 minutes ago
Riding to watch: Haldimand–Norfolk
Lucas Powers
Bobbi Ann Brady took many political observers by surprise when she won this riding in 2022 as an independent — a feat rarely accomplished in Ontario elections. Her win ended the PC hold on the riding since 1995.
Brady actually worked for the former PC representative, Toby Barrett, for 23 years. He backed her bid as an independent against the Tory challenger, upset by the party's move to appoint a candidate — whom he described as a "rival" — rather than hold an open nomination.
The PC candidate this time is local mayor Amy Martin, but Brady is popular among local voters.
33 minutes ago
Riding to watch: York South–Weston
Lucas Powers
From now until polls are set to close at 9 p.m., we'll be featuring a number of ridings with particularly interesting races. Most of these snippets were compiled by our colleagues at The Canadian Press, and we've added some additional context here and there.
If you want to read about them all in one place, tap here.
OK, first up is York South–Weston. The decision by PC Michael Ford, Doug Ford's nephew, to not run again has made this race more competitive. The younger Ford was elected in 2022, unseating New Democrat Faisal Hassan, who is running again this time.
In 2022, Hassan lost to Ford by fewer than 1,000 votes.
44 minutes ago Rhianna Schmunk
Comparing the promises of Ontario's 4 main party leaders in 4 minutes
4 days ago
Duration 3:59
Before casting your ballot on Feb. 27, it's important to know how the four major party leaders compare on hot-button issues. CBC's Julia Knope breaks down some of their key promises.
We're almost at the end for voting time, folks. If you're a last-minute, undecided voter looking to compare candidates quickly, you can find our party platform tracker right here. It's a comprehensive look at how the PCs, NDP, Liberals and Greens compare on issues affecting Ontarians' lives.
If you prefer, you can watch a four-minute breakdown above.
February 27
1 hour ago
Biggest mandate? Maybe not so much
Rhianna Schmunk
Ford says he needs 'strong' mandate from Ontarians to respond to potential U.S. tariff fallout
1 month ago
Duration 0:50
Ontario Premier Doug Ford made the comments after two sources close to his government told CBC News he could trigger an early provincial election as soon as next week.
As we've said, Ford started this campaign saying he was chasing 'the largest mandate in Ontario's history.' But by the end of the campaign, he struck a different tone.
'I don't look at the numbers,' he said in Windsor on Wednesday, per our colleagues at The Canadian Press. 'I just want to win.'
Ford would need to win 95 seats to set the record.
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