Early Ontario election official after Ford meets with lieutenant-governor [Video]

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has officially triggered an early provincial election for Feb. 27 after meeting with Ontario’s lieutenant-governor, his office confirmed. 

Ford visited Lt.-Gov. Edith Dumont on Tuesday afternoon to ask her to dissolve the 43rd parliament of the Province of Ontario. She accepted his request. 

Ford has said he needs a new mandate from the electorate in order to deal with U.S. President Donald Trump, something he repeated at a news conference Tuesday morning ahead of his visit to the lieutenant-governor. 

“This is gonna be a battle for the next four years. I want to make sure I have a strong mandate to outlast President Trump.”

Ford said his cabinet has discussed an “economic action plan” to deal with the fallout from Trump’s impending tariffs that will be rolled out during the election campaign. 

WATCH | Ford talks about tariff threat ahead of pending election call: Ontario Premier …