What complicates any discussion of the future is how thoroughly Ford has fused himself to the party brand. “What would the party be like without Doug Ford?” asked David Coletto, founder of Abacus Data. “It’s really hard to answer because he is so connected, for good and for bad, to the brand.”

I’m hoping Premier Ford and his cabinet will start 2026 off and do the right thing for patients and public health care: fund more of the most common surgical procedures in Canada in community surgical facilities, where they can be performed safely, effectively and economically.

Under the party’s constitution, all party members can vote in the leadership election, as well as anyone in the Ontario Young Liberals student club and a women’s Liberal club. Anyone can join the party as a member as long as they’re 14 or older and a resident of Ontario. But only Canadian citizens can vote in provincial and federal elections.

Once complete, the line is expected to deliver up to 1,500 megawatts of electricity to northern Ontario and 1,000 megawatts south, helping to relieve a growing transmission bottleneck and support mining, electrification and industrial expansion across the north.