“If you have been following it all, you know that Ford and the (Progressive Conservatives) in Ontario have wanted to have an early election for some time,” John Shields, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) said.

Doug Ford says he will remain on duty as premier, flying to meet with American officials in the face of Donald Trump's tariff threat even as he wages a re-election campaign — something opposition politicians say is an inappropriate use of his office and defies democratic norms.