Every Ontario voter at an advance poll location in a tight-race GTA riding had one thing in common: they all were thinking about U.S. President Donald Trump and his proposed tariffs.
True North went to one advance poll in downtown Oshawa to canvas Ontarians after they cast their ballots in one of the riding’s early voting stations.
In 2022 the incumbent NDP candidate, Jennifer French, won the election, with the Conservatives under Alex Down trailing behind by nearly two per cent of the vote, keeping her hold on the riding since 2014.
According to recent 338Canada projections, PC’s are slated to win the riding with 43 per cent of the vote, with the NDP trailing at 38 per cent.
French first took the riding in 2014 from PC candidate Jerry Oullette, who held the riding from 1999-2014. Now the PC’s are bringing back Oullette to win the riding back from French after 11 years.
Christina Heinze says she’s been living in Oshawa for over 35 years, and she doesn’t have “good memories” when Oullette was in charge.
“I’m voting strategically, and I’m going to vote for Jennifer French, to keep the Con(servative) candidate out,” Heinze told True North while in the line to vote. “She has served us well for the last 11 years or so. She’s been around for quite a while, and I feel like she represents Oshawa. Yeah, I like her.”
She said the election was a waste of taxpayer money and Ford was using the “excuse” of needing to secure a mandate that exceeded Trump’s four-year term in office to get an extended stint in government.
Heinze said that fixing the public healthcare system, increasing staff at schools, addressing climate change, housing, and the rights of Indigenous people matter to her most during this election.
She said she could never trust Ford to deliver for Ontarians since he was caught on a “hot-mic” saying he wanted Trump to win. Many supporters of the two left wing parties at the voting station shared the same concern that Ford was secretly a Trump supporter.
Randy, a PC supporter who didn’t want his last name included, said he’s “holding his nose” and reluctantly voting for Ford.
“Doug Ford doesn’t go overboard and get Trump angry, but hopefully they can work together and help solve the crime issues in Ontario and the states, the fentanyl problem in particular,” Randy told True North. “Crime is a big one; there’s so much crime nowadays, and immigrants overstaying their visas is another (key issue.)”
He said his main criticism of Ford is the way he handled the COVID crisis and his over-investment into climate change policies, such as in the EV market, and he is skeptical that Ford can help the economy.
“I didn’t care much for what Doug did during the COVID crisis. There’s other ways to have stopped the COVID rather than vaccine mandates and lockdowns,” he said.
He also wonders about politicians’ aversion to balancing the budget as he remembers a time under John Diefenbaker when there was a national surplus rather than endless spending deficits.
One couple in their “early 30s,” Cody and Cam, did not want to have their names included either though both said they would never vote conservative and strategically voted NDP this election.
“I feel like the biggest points for this election is probably like, housing, security, healthcare, cost of living, and so for myself, personally, I feel like Doug Ford is not the option when it comes to those things, for a multitude of reasons,” Cody said.
He noted Ford’s reversal of his cancellation on a $100 million Starlink contract after Trump gave a 30-day reprieve to Canadians on his looming 25 per cent tariffs.
He felt that Ford mismanaged federal funding for his COVID response and is mad that Ford is planning on taking down Ontario Place to put in a spa. Cam echoed Cody’s point, saying a well-funded healthcare system was at the top of her mind when she went to vote early.
“It’s all about the appearance of doing things as opposed to actually doing things,” Cody said. “He’s very concerned about businesses and corporations and his friends and not actually doing anything to help working Canadian families.”
Besides strategically voting against conservatives in the Oshawa riding, Cody said the NDP more “encapsulate” his values than the other leftist parties to which he typically throws his support.
Patricia, another voter who’d rather her last name be kept confidential, said she’s voting for Ford because he’s the “only one with a plan” to take on Trump’s economic sanctions.
“The others, I’m sorry, they’re just running on things right now that I’m not concerned about Trump, to me, is the big thing,” she said. “I figure they’re good, economic-wise. They do bring jobs into the country and into the province.”
Patricia told True North that she remembers when both Kathleen Wynn’s Liberals and Bob Rae’s NDP were in power in the province and both resulted in higher taxes.
“Bob Rae was a disaster for the workers I don’t think the NDP party ever thought they would get in and win, and they didn’t have the people, trained people, educated people to take the positions in the ministries,” she said. “It did not work out well.”
Early voting ran from Thursday to Saturday, though Feb. 27 is the official election date. 338Canada projects Ford winning a third consecutive majority government.