As political chaos on Parliament Hill threatens to sink the minority Liberal government and trigger an early election, Ontario’s official opposition is putting off its annual convention to focus on a provincial election campaign its strategists believe is near.
The Ontario NDP made the decision over the weekend to postpone its convention after its federal sister party said it would no longer support Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and joined the Conservative Party’s attempts to trigger an early election.
The convention had originally been set to take place in early January in downtown Toronto for the Ontario NDP and its supporters to plan policy and look at the year ahead.
With the prospect of an early federal election on the horizon, however, the party decided to forgo the conference to prepare for an election campaign.
An early federal election could theoretically prompt the Ford government to trigger a snap ballot in Ontario as well, a question the premier has danced around without indicating either way.
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“With snap provincial and federal elections looking increasingly likely in early 2025, the Ontario NDP Provincial Convention has been postponed,” a statement posted to the convention’s webpage explained.
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Behind the scenes, the party is moving resources that would have gone into the convention to focus on a potential early election campaign.
With the politicians not expected to return to Queen’s Park to debate again until March, the NDP has moved its focus to nominating as many new candidates as it can across the province, more fundraising and trying to introduce leader Marit Stiles to as many communities as possible through the winter.
The switch comes as Premier Doug Ford continues to mull an early election — speculation that has been in the air since May and a theory that Ford has not explicitly denied, despite being repeatedly asked.
Other parties are also making moves to prepare for an election earlier than usual.
Many Progressive Conservative party members — including Education Minister Jill Dunlop, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria and Minister of Children, Community and Social Services Michael Parsa — have already signed up to run for the party again in the next election.
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The early nominations in key ridings would leave the party with flexibility to launch a snap campaign if its leaders decided to.
The Ontario Liberals have been preparing for a campaign with their new leader, Bonnie Crombie, who recently hosted a large, downtown Toronto fundraiser and has distanced herself from Trudeau and the federal price on carbon.
Despite the signs from the province’s major parties that an early election could be imminent, no official call has been made.
The next Ontario election is currently scheduled to take place in June 2026.
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