Canada’s Doug Ford, once pro-Trump, is now the loudest voice against tariffs : NPR
Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks at an event with the United States Chamber of Commerce February 11 in Washington, DC.
Mark Schiefelbein/AP
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Mark Schiefelbein/AP
As Doug Ford campaigned to become premier of Ontario in 2018, he displayed a very Trumpian vibe. On the ground, he has attacked the media and elites, railed against measures to combat climate change, pledged to cut income taxes and gasoline prices, and even expressed support for President Trump’s policies.
So it may seem surprising today to see Ford – who heads Canada’s largest province – taking the lead in opposing Trump’s tough tariffs as Prime Minister Mark Carney struggles to deal with the fallout from trade tensions between the United States and Canada.
In recent months, Ford’s criticism of Trump has increased, most recently in the form of a television ad repeating President Ronald Reagan’s words warning in a 1987 radio speech about the dangers of protectionism. The ad angered Trump and appeared, at least temporarily, to have derailed trade negotiations between the two countries.
Who exactly is Doug Ford and what explains this political shift?
Three generations of the former businessman’s family have been elected, and Ford began his political career on Toronto city council from 2010 to 2014.
The period was marked by the spectacular downfall of his younger brother, then-Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who admitted to smoking crack and was later dogged by evidence of a series of other abusive behaviors.
The same year that Rob Ford publicly admitted to using drugs, The Globe and Mail published an article that the brothers had sold hashish in the 1980s.
Rob Ford died from a rare form of cancer in 2016.
Move from right to center
Just two years after his brother’s death, Doug Ford’s political fortunes blossomed. He and his center-right Progressive Conservative Party won a majority in Ontario, riding discontent with the Liberal Party, which was coming off 15 years in power in the province.
“Doug Ford was elected largely to get rid of a very unpopular government,” said Steve Paikin, a longtime political analyst and host of the show. Paikin Podcasta weekly podcast on current events in Canada.
Paikin says after Ford’s success in 2018, he made the mistake of assuming Ontario had voted for his program, when in fact the Progressive Conservatives’ electoral success was primarily based on eliminating the Liberals.
“He came to power practicing a kind of disruptive, robust populism on steroids, which made his government, frankly, the most unpopular I’ve ever seen,” Paikin says.
It was then that he decided to change tack to the center. In the years since, Ford has reached out to Canada’s left, including the current prime minister. He has also received praise, even from critics, for his handling of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario.
“COVID saved him. When the COVID crisis hit, he suddenly realized that all this kind of populist, anti-science, anti-expertise, ‘we’re just going to fly it by the seat of our pants’ talk wasn’t going to work,” Paikin says. “He suddenly realized that I had to rely on experts.”
NPR contacted Ford’s office for an interview with the premier but received no response.
From Trump enthusiast to “Captain Canada”
When former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he would resign in March of this year, as the White House prepared its tariffs for “Liberation Day” on April 2, Ford stepped in to fill the void, becoming the voice of the anti-tariff response.
By the time of his second re-election attempt earlier this year, Ford’s initial enthusiasm for Trump had long faded. On the campaign trail, he donned a baseball cap that mocked the red “Make America Great Again” hats — Ford’s blue cap, worn at a news conference in January, read “Canada is Not for Sale.”
“President Trump is promising high, sweeping tariffs that will devastate our economy and put hundreds of thousands of people out of work,” Ford told voters. “Whether he imposes tariffs next week, next month, or waits a year, President Trump’s threats will not go away. With a strong mandate from the people, I will do whatever it takes to protect Ontario.
After winning re-election in February, Ford threatened to cut off power to American homes in retaliation for tariffs and Trump’s threats to annex Canada. Ford also canceled a $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide Starlink services to the country.
Ford’s position earned him the nickname “Captain Canada.”
From “bad cop” to Carney’s “good cop”
Trump announced Friday that he was ending all trade negotiations with Canada because of the ad featuring Reagan. Ford later said that after speaking with Carney, he decided to pause the ad campaign, calling it a success for reaching the American public.
In an article published Friday, Ford wrote: “Canada and the United States are friends, neighbors and allies. ” In a later statement, he said: “Our intention has always been to start a conversation about the type of economy Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses. »
“We achieved our goal, reaching the highest level of audience in the United States,” he added.
Paikin suggests that because of their close relationship, Carney and Ford are playing “good cop, bad cop” with the anti-tariff ads – Ford can escalate his rhetoric while Carney plays the role of negotiator.
“Mark Carney showed up with his elbows up and since he became prime minister, the elbows are definitely down,” Paikin says. “He’s trying to take a more low-key approach.”
“The other side of the coin is [that] Doug Ford is free to do what he wants.”
