Londoners cast ballots as tariffs eclipse all other major issues

Trump's tariff threats have been at the forefront of the campaign, which has meant other issues have taken a backseat. CTV’s Bryan Bicknell reports.

This election day in Ontario may be like no other, in that many of the big issues facing Ontario over the last number of years have been swept under the rug.

At least that’s the feeling of some voters in London and St. Thomas.

Retirees Rick and Deena Young cast their ballots in London West Thursday. For them, this election is about health care, and quality of life for seniors.

“After working hard their whole lives, building the country, being decent citizens, paying their bills, paying the taxes. When they need help, all of a sudden it’s a two year wait if you want to see a specialist, or it’s a three year wait if you want to get in to a nursing home,” exclaimed Deena.

“Absolutely,” added Rick. “Health care and all this stuff about the seniors’ homes that during COVID was at the top of the list and is now all of a sudden at the bottom of the list,” he lamented.

London voter Mark White said the government needs to do more to tackle homelessness. “Well, I think we need to take care of the homeless and stuff like that, and there’s too many homeless people in Ontario and then London. So, we [have to] do something about that, and create more jobs,” said White.

Both homelessness and health care are among many big issues in Ontario that have been eclipsed in recent weeks by U.S. President Trump’s behaviour towards Canada since he took office. Canadian sovereignty and the threat of tariffs are very much on many voters’ minds.

“This election is more about what are we going to do with the taxes that Donald Trump is trying to imply. And also, about what they’re going to do about getting more jobs for people in this community,” said St. Thomas voter Thomas Havorka.

London voter Jordan Powell also worries about the economy with the looming tariff threat.

“Because of what’s going on with Trump and him tariffing some of our aluminum, different things,” he said.

With Doug Ford’s PC party way out in front in the polls, Western University Political Science Chair Laura Stephenson says it has been a challenge for voters to stay focused.

“The polls suggest that the outcome is almost to be expected, right, because they’ve been so clear and so steady for so long. And then the other would be just that there are so many other things happening that are taking peoples’ attention. Not to mention, there’s the situation going on in federal politics. There’s the Liberal leadership debate. But then of course there’s the constant threat of tariffs,” said Stephenson.

She also said much of the messaging from the opposition parties has not been getting through.

“And when it really comes down to it, you know, we do care about corruption, of course, but we also care about, more fundamentally probably about keeping our jobs. And so, if the tariffs are going to threaten our jobs, then the corruption surrounding something else is going to take a second chair,” Stephenson added.