Progressive Conservative Chief Doug Ford insists Ontario will not be weak throughout a snap election marketing campaign he known as as a commerce struggle with the USA looms, however opposition leaders say he’s deserted the province at a vital time.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday made good on his vow to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian items, making an exception with a decrease 10 per cent responsibility on vitality.
Earlier that very same day, Ford warned of inauspicious instances forward if the tariff threats turned actuality.
Ford known as the election this previous week. He justified it by saying he wants a recent mandate from Ontarians in an effort to spend tens of billions of {dollars} to assist folks throughout a commerce struggle.
He dissolved the provincial parliament on Tuesday, which means bills can’t be handed into regulation till the formation of a brand new authorities. The snap election is about for Feb. 27 and will price taxpayers as a lot as $189 million.
But the province will not be weak, Ford mentioned at a marketing campaign cease in Brampton, Ont., on a frigid Saturday morning.
“It’s going to give us more strength, more certainty, because right now the only thing certain with President Trump is uncertainty, and when you have a four-year strong mandate, that gives us a lot more strength when we’re negotiating,” he mentioned.
Ford spoke as if the tariffs had been a achieved deal, although they’d not but materialized when Ford made his marketing campaign cease.
Trump is concentrating on Ontario’s auto sector with the tariffs, saying he doesn’t want or need Canadian-made automobiles. He desires these automobiles to be made within the U.S.
Throughout his final time period, Trump signed the latest free commerce deal between the 2 international locations and Mexico, which particularly carved out an automotive settlement. Vehicles, components and uncooked supplies are shipped forwards and backwards throughout the Canada-U.S. border a number of instances as they’re constructed.
Trump now desires to tear up that deal.
As soon as tariffs undergo, Ontarians will really feel the ache shortly, Ford mentioned.
“The coming weeks and months will be some of the toughest we’ve ever faced,” he mentioned.
“The impact of these tariffs will be felt almost immediately. Companies’ orders are going to slow down, factories will have to reduce shifts, workers may lose their jobs.”
Opposition leaders have accused Ford of calling the early election forward of the June 2026 mounted date to benefit from good polling numbers and get out forward of this 12 months’s federal election. They are saying he’s utilizing Trump’s tariff threats as an excuse for private achieve.
Ford insists he can nonetheless act as sitting premier whereas campaigning and has two journeys to Washington, D.C., deliberate for February that he mentioned could be paid for by the PC Social gathering.
Ford sidestepped questions Saturday about whether or not he would have the ability to implement his “economic action plan” to answer tariffs in the course of the marketing campaign.
However he has mentioned it is going to be the voters’s resolution whether or not to maneuver ahead with the measures, implying they may come after the election ought to he win.
A part of the plan features a $22-billion stimulus bundle to construct infrastructure, which Ford has mentioned would go forward no matter Trump’s strikes.
NDP Chief Marit Stiles mentioned Ford shouldn’t have known as a snap election.
“A premier doesn’t quit his job when we’re being plunged into a crisis like this,” Stiles mentioned at a marketing campaign cease in Toronto.
“So he decided to quit his job. I’m running to be premier of this province and I’m going to fight for every single job, every single person in every single sector in this province.”
Liberal Chief Bonnie Crombie’s marketing campaign mentioned Saturday that Ford has left Ontario weak.
“He’s been caught with his pants down, exposed because he’s not at work doing his job as he should be,” she mentioned.
“This is a time of real threat, not a time of opportunity for yourself, Mr. Premier.”
Crombie then hopped aboard her new marketing campaign bus, replete in Liberal crimson with white phrases that learn “2.5 million people have no family doctor” on one facet and “11,000 people died waiting for surgery last year” on the opposite.
Beneath these messages: “This is Doug Ford’s Ontario.”
Inexperienced Social gathering Chief Mike Schreiner spent the fourth day of the marketing campaign door-knocking in Kitchener, Ont., and supporting his deputy chief’s re-election marketing campaign.
— With information from Maan Alhmidi in Brampton, Ont.
This report by The Canadian Press was first revealed Feb. 1, 2025.
Liam Casey, The Canadian Press
