Prime Minister Mark Carney reached out to Ontario Premier Doug Ford multiple times while on an Asia trip, urging Ford to withdraw an advertisement campaign that has been criticized for derailing trade discussions with the United States, Ford mentioned on Monday. Carney had advised Ford against running the ad featuring excerpts of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan expressing disapproval of tariffs.
During a press session on Monday, Ford refrained from disclosing specifics of their discussions but hinted at a discrepancy in their recollections. Despite Trump discontinuing trade negotiations last month due to the TV spots, Ford initially hesitated to remove them, eventually pausing the ad after continued airing during World Series events. Trump’s threat of imposing additional tariffs on Canadian products followed.
Ford confirmed that Carney, engaged in official business in Asia, persistently urged him to take down the ads. The premier affirmed, “He called me from Asia a couple of times and said, ‘Pull the ad,’ and I said I wasn’t going to do it until we’re going to pause the ad on Monday and that’s exactly what we did.”
Ford emphasized the positive relationship between the two politicians, despite the disagreement over the ad campaign. Carney expressed regret to Trump for the ad, which Ford claimed he was not informed about in advance.
The Prime Minister’s Office refrained from directly responding to Ford’s comments, emphasizing the importance of direct engagement between the federal government and the U.S. administration to secure a mutually beneficial deal for workers and businesses in both nations.
Ford remains enthusiastic about the ad’s impact, boasting about its extensive viewership and lauding it for influencing a U.S. Senate resolution against tariffs. Originally budgeted at $75 million to run through the winter, the ad campaign has been shelved, reducing costs for taxpayers, although the final expenses are yet to be disclosed.
While Canada-U.S. trade negotiations remain on hold, the Canadian government has expressed readiness to resume discussions from where they left off.