Toronto Star. Leading to the 2018 election In 2016, the government spent almost $800,000 in rebates for electric vehicles costing more than $100,000. In 2017, the rules were changed so that electric vehicles with price tags of between $75,000 to $150,000 were made eligible for rebates of up to $14,000. In March 2018, Wynne's government cancelled incentives for electric vehicles costing more than $75,000. In March 2017, the Liberal government announced "free tuition" for families earning less than $50,000 by updating the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP). Ontario's minimum wage increased $2.40 from $11.60 to $14 effective from January 1, 2018. Wynne also planned to increase the minimum wage to $15 the following year. Also from January 1, 2018, Wynne made prescription drugs free for people aged 24 and under. 2018 election Wynne's Liberals headed into the 2018 provincial election campaign trailing far behind the PCs, led by former Toronto City Councillor Doug Ford. In early April, CBC News published their analysis of aggregate polls showing that Ford and the PCs were ahead of the other parties averaging 42.1 percent support, compared to 27.2 percent for the governing Liberals, 23.4 percent for the NDP and 5.7 percent for the Greens and with 11 Liberal MPPs announcing they would not be running for re-election or having already resigned their seats in the months leading up to the election. Voters were offered a "stark choice", according to Wynne, between "cutting and removing supports from people" with "billions in cuts", which she alleged the PCs would do if they won the election, and expanding investments in social programs such as pharmacare and childcare, which the Liberal platform promised. In March 2018, the Liberals tabled a pre-election budget in the provincial legislature which promised billions of dollars in new spending for free childcare and expanded dental care but replaced the government's previous balanced budget with a $6.7 billion deficit projected to last until 2024–2025. PC leader Doug Ford called the budget a "spending spree". Towards the end of the election, Wynne pledged to recall the legislature in order to legislate striking graduate students at York University back to work, which NDP leader Andrea Horwath stated was a violation of the students' constitutional rights. On June 2, five days before the election, Wynne conceded that the Liberals would not win a fifth term, but she urged voters to vote for Liberal candidates in the election