The Ontario legislature is back Monday

Ontario's legislature will resume sitting Monday after an unusually long summer break, and returns in the midst of intense speculation that Premier Doug Ford will call an early election.

Some of the premier's remarks and announcements over the past few months -- from the idea to dig a tunnel under Highway 401 to spending $225 million to put beer, wine and coolers in corner stores earlier than planned -- are evidence that Ford is more focused on electioneering than governing, opposition critics say.

Politicians on both sides of the legislature are already thinking ahead to a possible early contest, with more than half a dozen members of provincial parliament already announcing they will not run in the next election, even though it is officially a little over two years away.

The next fixed election date isn't until June 2026. But Ford has left the door open to calling one next year, giving his own caucus members a December deadline to decide if they will run again.

So far, two backbenchers have bowed out, as has Speaker Ted Arnott, after 34 years at the legislature. Kaleed Rasheed, who serves as an independent after getting kicked out of the Progressive Conservative caucus, made a similar announcement. Three NDP representatives have indicated they will instead seek federal nominations.

On Monday, when the legislature sits for the first time in 19 weeks, the government is set to introduce a bill aimed at easing the congestion that is frustrating some Greater Toronto Area voters.

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria announced that the legislation would facilitate construction 24 hours a day, accelerate property acquisitions and an environmental assessment for Highway 413 and require municipalities to ask the province for permission to install bike lanes when they would remove a lane of vehicle traffic.

Fighting gridlock was one of the main legislative priorities Ford highlighted Thursday in a speech, saying he calls his transportation minister every time he's stuck in a traffic jam.

"I was driving home the other night, it was about 11:30, I look on the 401 and I don't know what the reason was, it was packed on both sides of the highway," he told the Empire Club of Canada crowd.

"People just want to get home. They want to get to work. We want to get goods to their destination a lot quicker."

Opposition leaders say Ford's 401 tunnel idea appears half-baked and designed to shore up votes among frustrated drivers rather than offering any real solutions.

"It appears that he's in campaign mode and it also appears that he's blowing a lot of smoke to distract people from the real concerns people have," said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

The opposition parties hope to steer the legislative focus to what they see as more pressing concerns, such as the 2.5 million Ontarians without a family doctor and a housing supply shortage.

"I think this is a premier who's more focused, and has been, on gimmicks than on actually addressing the struggles that people are feeling," said NDP Leader Marit Stiles.