An election is around the corner in Ontario, and a northwestern Ontario MPP is in favour of it.
Premier Doug Ford announced on Friday during a press conference in Brampton that he plans to call an election on January 29.
This means an election is set to be held on February 27.
Ontario’s next election was not scheduled until 2026, but the provincial conservatives opted to go to the polls sooner.
“This decision wasn’t taken lightly by our caucus,” said Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP, Kevin Holland. “We had a lot of conversation over a period of time with regards to what’s going on and I, to be honest with you I was one that was saying what are the benefits of it?”
Concerns about President Donald Trump, and his threats of tariffs helped drive the decision.
“We’ve been concerned with regards to President Trump, you know, from the time he was elected as to what that was going to mean for Canada or specifically to Ontario with regards to his rumored tariffs,” explained Holland. “I was taking the approach that I hoped that it was pre-inauguration blustering, but we can’t count on that.”
“We had to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and in his inauguration speech he indicated that we were in fact going to be facing tariffs, possibly as early as February 1st.”
Part of the conservatives’ goal for facing the tariffs is to hit the polls with a new mandate focused on Donald Trump’s presidency.
“We need a strong government, with a strong mandate for the full term of President Trump’s term in office to ensure that the interests of Ontarians, Ontario businesses and Ontario industries are going to be protected,” said Holland. “We know the president is volatile he shoots from the hip as they say, and we needed to ensure that we had a good, strong government in place for the full term of his presidency to deal with whatever may be coming forward.”
Locally Holland voiced concerns on the effect more tariffs could have on industries in the region.
“We know that forestry is a cornerstone of our economy in the north and we’re already embroiled in the longest, largest trade dispute in the world with billions of dollars of our industry money tied up in trust as a result of the tariffs that already exist on the forestry sector,” said Holland. “We do need to make sure that we’re well positioned and have that mandate to deal with what’s coming because it could have devastating effects locally here for us it’s so important here to Northwestern Ontario and forestry.”
“We need to remind them what the reliance on Canadian natural resources and forestry actually is.”
According to Holland, the U.S. relies on Canada to supply roughly one-third of its lumber needs to meet its housing demands.
“That’s undisputed we know that the lumber being produced in Canada is stronger and more and a higher quality than the other numbers from other parts of the world, we need to educate them on that,” added Holland. “I mean, we’ve all watched the devastating fires and the hurricanes on the eastern seaboard, which is just increasing that demand, so it’s it’s vital that we are in place right now to educate them.”
