Early Provincial Election Called

Date Published

Earlier this week, Premier Ford met with the Lieutenant Governor to set in motion the call for an early provincial election. With the campaign period beginning Wednesday, January 29, 2025, there is a 28-day period with voting day on February 27, 2025.

The election is being called more than a year ahead of the scheduled provincial election of June 2026. The Premier says that he requires a clear mandate to effectively respond to United States tariff threats on Canadian goods, though opposition parties have already expressed support in responding to tariffs.

The legislature was set to return on March 3, however, now, it will instead prorogue, bringing legislative proposals and ongoing committee matters to a halt. As you may recall, several bills affecting municipalities were set to continue moving through the legislative process. This includes:

  • Bill 242, Safer Municipalities Act, 2024 (re: policing and enforcement of encampments and illegal drug use in public spaces)
  • Bill 241, Municipal Accountability Act, 2024 (re: code of conduct and integrity commissioner framework)
  • Bill 240, Peel Transition Implementation Act, 2024 (re: service delivery efficiencies for Peel municipalities)
  • Bill 238, Emergency Management Modernization Act, 2024 (re: coordination and capacity of emergency management)

However, with an election called, these bills, 'die on the order paper'. During an election period, the provincial government still functions, transitioning to operating at a caretaker level, with limits on spending. Only when the new Legislature forms and sits in a new parliament can new bills be considered and/or be reintroduced.

Municipal Impact

Municipalities serve as a lifeline to many provincial services and quality of life. Municipal staff work hard to ensure their communities, residents and councils are supported and built up. Municipalities are the first to help residents and businesses in our communities despite complex structural and funding challenges - especially when it comes to issues like health care and homelessness, among others.

With the political parties campaigning over the next 28 days, we will be providing our priorities for the next provincial government that address the concerns of our members, municipal staff and the wider sector. Stay tuned for these priorities and accompanying member toolkit to be released in the coming week.

In the meantime, check out the status of our previous 2022 provincial election priorities below. Where there is still more work to be done, we have included these items in our 2025 election priorities.

  • Increase funds like Ontario Community Infrastructure Fund (OCIF) and Ontario Municipal Partnership Fund (OMPF) – Partially achieved
  • Invest in important infrastructure projects – Partially achieved
  • Commit to meaningful joint and several liability reform – In progress
  • Tackle significant areas of operational and administrative burden and reduce red tape on municipally-provided services – In progress
  • Collaborate and consult with AMCTO on core legislation – In progress
  • Ensure digital government policy and implementation – In progress

Looking back on our priorities in 2022 and looking ahead at our priorities for 2025, a similar theme emerges: there needs to be a better municipal-provincial relationship where collaboration and co-designing policies and programs is valued and encouraged.

Rather than working as separate levels of government, now more than ever, governments at all levels need to work together to address common challenges and opportunities to put Ontarians first. There continues to be a need to establish fundamental and functional foundations that will make our communities strong, resilient and supportive for residents and businesses.

We encourage you to keep an eye out for our 2025 provincial election priorities and member toolkit to come next week. Over the course of the next month, we will be adding to this toolkit to support our advocacy on these priorities and to keep members up to date with election-related developments.