“Fire Doug Ford” Petition Gains Ground, But Can It Succeed?

A Change.org campaign demanding Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s removal is asking Ontario’s legislature for an outcome that voters cannot trigger under the province’s current election rules.

The petition, titled “Fire Doug Ford (Recall An Elected Official),” appears on Change.org as a campaign addressed to the Ontario Legislature. It currently shows 2,050 verified signatures, while the indexed Change.org page identifies the petition as having been launched on April 3, 2019.

The page calls Ford unfit to govern and asks for him to be recalled. Its own language leans on the concept of a recall election, a mechanism used in some jurisdictions to remove an elected official before the end of a term.

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The catch is that Ontario has not enacted such a system for members of the Legislative Assembly. OpenCouncil’s review of Ontario removal rules lists narrow routes for removing an MPP between elections, including expulsion by the legislature, legal disqualification, or resignation. A voter-led recall petition is not listed as an available process.

Ford is premier because he leads the Progressive Conservative caucus, which holds power in the legislature. Ontario voters do not elect a premier through a separate provincewide ballot, and they do not currently have a recall process that can remove an MPP or premier through a signature drive.

Queen’s Park has seen versions of the idea before. Bill 89, introduced in 2015 by then-MPP Randy Hillier, proposed changing the Election Act to create a recall process for members of the Legislative Assembly. The bill was formally titled the Election Amendment Act (MPPs’ Recall), 2015.

A similar proposal appeared earlier through Bill 39, the Recall Act, 2004, which also sought Election Act changes dealing with recall of members of the Assembly.

The petition is circulating against a very different political backdrop than when it was created. Ford won reelection in February 2025, with AP reporting that he secured another mandate after campaigning around the threat of US tariffs.

Earlier this month, Opposition Leader Marit Stiles suggested Ford could end up “in prison” if a public inquiry exposed “dirty deals” regarding the Greenbelt controversy.

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