For awhile, 2025 was shaping up to be a great year for Ontario Premier Doug Ford. Things were lining up nicely for a widely expected spring election. There was the feel-good advertising blitz, the $200 cheques for nearly every Ontarian, the promised gridlock-busting tunnel under Highway 401, the early arrival of a new era in alcohol retailing.

The un-dynamic duo of NDP Leader Marit Stiles and Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie continued to split poll support pretty much evenly, the key to another PC majority.