If Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford scores a major electoral victory tonight, it will likely vindicate a strategy that centred the election campaign on U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threat while overshadowing other key provincial issues, some analysts say.

"Tariffs and Trump is such a specific, top-of-mind issue," said Éric Grenier, a polls and elections analyst who writes The Writ newsletter. "For PCs, every poll shows that they're way ahead on that issue."

Polls indicate…