Ford says Singh is 'just blowing smoke' and won't call early federal election

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he thinks it’s unlikely national NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh will trigger an early federal election after he tore up the deal keeping Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in power last week.

“Well, as far as I'm concerned, MP Singh is just blowing smoke,” Ford said at an unrelated news conference in Prince Edward County on Monday.

Hamilton Centre MP Matthew Green has since issued a statement in response to Ford’s comment.

“That's pretty rich coming from Premier Ford who has built his entire career on the coat tails of his family’s last name and is now under criminal investigation for corruption,” said Green, the ethics critic for the NDP. 

The Premier predicted that Singh will continue to prop up the Liberal minority government despite ending the supply-and-confidence agreement, which was set to expire in June 2025, in an effort to secure his pension.

“There's nothing more important to these greedy politicians then collecting a pension,” Ford said.

“I'll stand up here and apologize to all the greedy politicians if he calls the election early. But let's face it, he wants his pension. He's not going anywhere until October, let's say 20th, 2025.”

Singh, who is eligible for his pension as soon as February 2025, has denied claims that last week’s decision to rip up the deal was motivated by anything other than ending his party’s support for what he described as Trudeau’s “weak” and “selfish” Liberals.

Speaking with CTV Power Play’s Vassy Kapelos last week, Singh rejected accusations from the Conservatives that he will continue to support the Liberals on key votes to secure his pension.

“Not at all. It’s a ludicrous suggestion,” the federal NDP leader said.

“I’m obviously going to get re-elected in my riding. I’m not worried about that at all. This is a silly argument being brought by Conservatives, but it’s on purpose …”

Singh said the reason why Pierre Poilievre is raising this point is because he “wants to distract from what he wants to do.”

“He wants to destroy the dental-care program for seniors. So for your parents, your grandparents, he doesn’t think they deserve to get their teeth looked after. He wants to get rid of this entirely,” Singh charged.

“Not only that, he also wants to get rid of our universal healthcare system. He’s been very open about that. He doesn’t want to see a public healthcare system. He wants to see it entirely private. So that’s what he’s distracting from. He knows he’s lying and he knows that he’s distracting from the fact that he wants to destroy not only dental care, but our health care system as well.”

The deal between the NDP and the Liberals, which was signed in 2022, was crafted to address the former’s political priorities, including a dental care plan for low-income households.

While the deal was in place, the NDP promised not to move or vote for a non-confidence motion against the Liberals.

Now that the agreement has ended, Singh has acknowledged that an election before the fixed date of October 2025 is “more likely.”

Meanwhile, Ford continues to face questions about his own potential plans to call an early election before the fixed date of June 2026.

His refusal to stick to that date has created speculation in some political circles that he may call voters to the polls earlier to get ahead of a federal vote.

“I'll tell you, we aren’t calling an election this year, and we're going to make sure that we continue with prosperity and creating jobs and opportunities for the people of Ontario,” the Premier said on Monday.

Ford was also asked whether his government could call an election in 2025 ahead of the October date. However, he was non-committal.

“We haven't made that decision yet,” he said.