Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Canadian consumers and retailers should buy and sell products made in the country to support those who could be affected by the ‘devastating’ tariffs promised by U.S. president-elect Donald Trump.
Ford made the comments during a news conference with Prime Minister Trudeau, federal ministers, and other provincial and territorial premiers following their meeting in Ottawa on Wednesday.
“This is an opportunity for Canadians to stand up and be proud. Even when it comes down to going into your local retailer, look at the back of the label—if it doesn’t say made in Canada, pick the can beside it that does say Made in Canada,” Ford said.
“If he moves forward with these tariffs, there’s never been a time that’s more important for Canadians to be united, to stand up and make sure that our voices heard, and the retaliatory tariffs need to be hard. We have to send a message.”
In a joint statement released after the meeting, federal and provincial officials agreed to continue to try preventing U.S. tariffs by strengthening the border and stem the flow of illicit drugs, which are the key issues Trump wanted Canada and Mexico to address when he threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff.
“While they are making every effort to prevent U.S. tariffs, First Ministers are committed to continuing to work together on a full range of measures to ensure a robust response to possible U.S. tariffs, including supports for sectors, businesses, and individuals. If the federal government implements retaliatory measures, it will ensure the rapid availability of substantial resources that effectively mitigate economic impacts to workers and businesses,” read the statement which was signed by all premiers except Alberta’s Danielle Smith.
The Alberta premier said while she agreed on several strategies discussed in the meeting, she did not agree on imposing export tariffs on Alberta energy as a possible retaliatory measure.
“Until these threats cease, Alberta will not be able to fully support the federal government’s plan in dealing with the threatened tariffs. Alberta will simply not agree to export tariffs on our energy or other products, nor do we support a ban on exports of these same products,” Smith said in a statement.
When asked about Smith’s response, Ford, who is the chair of the Council of the Federation, said he respects his Alberta counterpart and her concerns about protecting her province’s products but “country comes first.”
“Canada is a priority, and I don’t believe in jeopardizing one sector or another. Premier Smith’s oil is Ontario’s auto sector,” Ford said.
“So again, we all have different views, and we can respect each other’s views, but at the end of the day, when the tariffs come, it’s going to affect Albertans. It’s going to affect people from B.C. and Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec - all the way down the road. No one’s exempt from that.”
Ford promised that he’s going to “fight like you’ve never seen before” if Trump moves ahead with the tariffs. On Tuesday, the premier said the tariffs could cost Ontario as many as 500,000 jobs.
Ford sports ‘Canada is not for sale’ hat
He also reiterated that Canada is not for sale, which is the message printed on a hat the premier wore ahead of the meeting.
He wore the navy-blue baseball cap, reminiscent of Trump’s controversial “Make America Great Again” hats, ahead of a premiers’ summit with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Ottawa to discuss Canada’s response to promised tariffs by the incoming commander-in-chief.
“First of all, I’ll talk about the hat that I’m wearing,” Ford told reporters before the meeting, mentioning that the hat was sent to him by the Ottawa-based company, Jackpine Dynamic Branding. “You don’t see me in the hats too much, but this is about everyday Canadians standing up for the country.”
The hat features a Canadian flag on the right and the year of confederation, 1867, on the left.
In addition to the tariff threat, Trump more recently has mused about annexing Canada by way of “economic force” once he’s in the White House.
“This [hat] is an example of how we need to unite and we can not let president Trump divide us. He’ll be sworn in in a week and then he’s going to lay the tariffs on Canada. He’s going to try to devastate our country, he’s going to try and divide our country, and we cannot have division in our country,” Ford said.
As of late, Ford hasn’t said exactly what retaliatory measures he is considering should the tariffs take hold, however he has said the province could potentially shut off Ontario power to the 1.5 million homes south of the border that use it.
“I can tell you one thing: nothing’s more important than the country. And when we’re defending the country, we don’t roll over. You’re in a card game, you don’t show your opposition your cards. If you have some aces, you hold onto those aces,” he said.
Ford met with Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc yesterday, who has also remained tight-lipped on counter measures but stated that “all options are on the table.” Following the meeting, the premier said he had seen the fed’s $1.3 billion border security plan, the specifics of which have yet to be released publicly, and said it was “fabulous.”
Trump has said that the tariffs will remain in place until both Canada and Mexico beef up their borders, however LeBlanc said last month the plan had been in the works for months and was not in response to the incoming president’s threat.
Hat creator ‘sprung into action’ following Ford’s Fox News interview
Liam Mooney is the founder of Jackpine and said Ford’s team called him to get one of the hats on Tuesday.
“Got a buzz early in the morning from a deputy chief of staff and a bunch of other folks on his team and [we] were asked to get a couple of hats for the premier and you know, when the premier asks for something like that…you get up and you move,” he told CTV News Toronto on Wednesday.
Mooney used to be a political fundraiser and said he started his design strategy and brand innovation firm about 12 years ago. He said the inspiration for the hats came after Ford appeared on Fox News last week and host Jesse Watters told the premier that Canada should “consider it a privilege to be taken over by the United States of America” and that he found it “personally offensive” that Canadians seem to find that concept “repellant.”
“Well I’ve got news for those folks, it’s a privilege to be Canadian,” Mooney said. “And it’s an amazing privilege. And so we just sprung into action. From concept onto the premier in one week. It was pretty awesome.”