Ontario premier Doug Ford has triggered an early election in the province, saying he needs a strong mandate to take on the tariff threat.

TORONTO — Ontario Premier Doug Ford officially set a provincial election in motion Tuesday for Feb. 27, more than a year before the next fixed election date. The election had been set for June 2026, but Ford said he needs a new mandate to deal with four years of a Donald Trump presidency in the United States.

The leader of Canada’s most populous province says he will be calling an election in Ontario because he says he needs a mandate to fight U.S.

Doug Ford, Ontario’s Conservative leader, has recently said that President Trump was “going to try to devastate our country” with a plan to impose tariffs on Canadian exports.

Chrystia Freeland, the former finance minister who is running to replace Justin Trudeau as Canada’s prime minister, says her country needs to release a “retaliation list” of goods the country would target if U.

The Quebec legislature resumes sitting Tuesday for a spring session likely to be dominated by the threat of a trade war with the United States and a renewed focus on secularism and identity.