After Ontario Premier Doug Ford called a provincial election in a bid to secure a mandate to fight U.S. tariffs and economic threats, some conservative voters in Ontario may be looking for new options at the ballot box.
For disillusioned conservative voters who are tired of Ford’s excessive spending and less-than-conservative policies, the New Blue Party is “the only alternative” to vote for in the coming election – according to the party’s leader, Jim Karahalios.
The next provincial election is scheduled to conclude on Feb. 27.
In an interview with True North, Karahalios said his party is about “cleaning house” at Queen’s Park.
“If you’re tired of being promised the world and getting a government that’s worse than the Liberals, then you should stop voting for the Doug Ford PC’s,” he said. “The facts are, the PCs govern the same as the Liberals, and in many cases, they govern worse. Whether it’s fiscal, they spend more money than the Kathleen Wynne Liberals, or whether it’s social, where they continue with DEI initiatives.”
A recent study by the Fraser Institute found that Ford’s “Progressive Conservative” government has spent more annually than any provincial government in Ontario’s history, barring only Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals in 2010.
Karahalios is calling for conservatives in Ontario to “wake up” and stop falling for “PC party propaganda.”
He said they need to shake off the fear that if they don’t vote for Ford’s PC party it will be worse under the Liberals. They should also abandon the hope the PC party can be “fixed” from the inside, he added.
“Voters are tired of the establishment parties and their cronies every time they take power, whether it’s the Liberals, the PCs, or the NDP, promising they’ll clean up Queens Park,” he said. “But when they get there, the lobbyists are the same, and the cronyism is the same, and the scandals are the same, and in fact, it’s even worse under Doug Ford.”
Karahalios said there are several priorities the New Blue Party would bring to the table if elected to the provincial legislature. They include halting corporate welfare to EV and climate initiatives, getting tough on the border, stopping drug smuggling and ending “woke” DEI policies in government and the education system.
“What I wouldn’t do is let corporations take advantage of Ontario taxpayers by giving no-strings-attached subsidies to corporations that have the right to shut down anyway, and leave whenever they want,” he said. “Doug Ford has been doling out corporate welfare checks to companies and they pick up and leave after.”
Ford did not respond to True North’s request to comment.
Karahalios formed the party with his wife, Belinda, who has a track record of voting against critical race theory in schools as well while she served as an Ontario MPP. Karahalios told True North that combating “woke” policies in the education system would be among the policies his party will advocate against.
Belinda was expelled from Ford’s party for voting against Bill 195, which effectively allowed the Ontario government to issue emergency orders for two years, ensuring lengthy lockdowns remained in place.
Ford has billed the election as a way to secure a mandate from Ontario’s voters for a muscular provincial response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s constantly looming tariffs.
He said he needs the backing of Ontarians for retaliatory tariffs against Trump and to give approval to “COVID-era” type handouts to Ontarians to mitigate economic challenges.
Karahalios said his party, and particularly his wife when she was an MPP, has been calling for strengthened borders, and a tougher stance on drugs and safer-supply sites, which has led to a growing problem of black-market diversion.
He said he would work with the U.S. in addressing concerns such as illegal immigration and drug smuggling but fell short of saying he would be in favour of escalating a trade war in response to Trump’s tariffs.
“We would … have good relationships with administrations in the United States, both at the state level and federal level, regardless of whether it’s a Democrat or Republican,” he said. “So that when one party wins and the other loses down there, they don’t see us as being hostile.”
He said he would also make it easier for businesses to operate in Ontario so that businesses want to come to the province and stay even when “temporary tariffs are in place.” New Blue would “get rid of red tape and regulation” to make it easier to operate in the province and implement the same rules for every business so that those who lobby the government through the right avenues aren’t the only ones to get assistance from the state.”
And the party is strongly opposed to any form of carbon tax.
“(The PC government) ha(s) a Greenhouse Gas registry for industry in Ontario, I’d get rid of that and get rid of the industrial carbon tax that Doug Ford put in place,” he said. “I’d stop helping Justin Trudeau, Mark Carney, or whoever (the Liberals) put in place, collect the carbon tax.”
The other party billed as a conservative alternative, the Ontario Party, did not respond to True North’s requests to comment.
