The election of Ontario’s Conservatives to a second majority is unwelcome news. In their first four years, the Doug Ford Conservatives attacked workers and public services, weakened and destroyed regulations, and mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic — all while trumpeting the interests of big business. There is little doubt that Ford’s second majority Conservative government will continue to advance the interests of business at the expense of the climate and workers.

But we should be wary of painting too gloomy a picture of the election outcome, or of dismissing the electorate. The 2022 provincial election’s voter turnout — 43 percent — was by far the lowest in Ontario’s history. Ontario’s Progressive Conservatives (PC) won 40.83 percent of the popular vote, which was comparable to their 40.5 percent share of the popular vote in 2018. But the actual votes cast for the Conservatives dropped by 415,000.

The majority of voters did not vote. Of those who did, a majority voted against Ford. Ford maintained his vote share by changing his rhetoric in the lead-up to the election. The election outcome does not reflect a resounding endorsement of the PC agenda. Rather, the results point to pandemic fatigue and apathy with the official political process.