Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters he had advised Ontario Premier Doug Ford not to broadcast the anti-tariff ad.Liam Richards/The Canadian Press
Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he has a different recollection of his conversation with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who said he advised the Premier not to run an anti-tariff advertisement that angered U.S. President Donald Trump.
Mr. Ford also said the Prime Minister called him from his recent trip to Asia asking him to pull the ad, which featured a pro-free trade address from former president Ronald Reagan, but the Premier did not do so until days later.
The Premier added he would “never apologize” to Mr. Trump, as Mr. Carney did during his recent trip to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Mr. Ford addressed for the first time Mr. Carney’s contention that he told the Premier not to run the ad critical of Mr. Trump’s tariffs, which resulted in the U.S. President cancelling trade talks and threatening higher levies on Canada.
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“I had a different…recollection of our conversation,” Mr. Ford said, declining to provide specifics.
“I’ll tell you one thing, what he did do, he called me from Asia a couple 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.”
The U.S. President broke off trade talks with Canada on Oct. 23, citing the Ontario government TV ad. After it aired during Game 1 of the World Series, Mr. Trump announced that he would boost tariffs on Canadian imports by another 10 per cent. The Ontario government pulled the ad last Monday, after it aired during Game 2 of the World Series.
“President Trump wanted me to pull it one day, and I took three more days, and we paused it to get back to the table. It was very, very effective,” Mr. Ford said.
Mr. Carney, who had viewed the ad before it went to air, told reporters at a Saturday news conference in South Korea he had advised the Ontario Premier not to broadcast it. “You saw what came of it,” he said of the fallout from the advertisement.
Mr. Trump has said he will not resume trade talks with Canada.
The Prime Minister said he apologized to Mr. Trump and that it’s not something he would have done.
Mr. Ford on Monday said he would not have followed suit.
“I’ll tell you what I would do. I’d never apologize to Donald Trump. Donald Trump is trying to destroy our province, destroy our country,” he said.
The Premier said he wasn’t angry at the Prime Minister for asking him to pull the ad. He said he communicated with Mr. Carney by text message on Monday, and he’s asked the Prime Minister to focus his negotiations on the auto sector.
“I fully understand the position he’s in. He’s trying to talk to the President, but the President was going to give us a terrible deal, like they gave the U.K., a terrible deal, gave Japan even a worse deal, in my opinion,” Mr. Ford said.
“I always say no deal is better than a bad deal, and that’s what President Trump wants.”
He added that he believes the ad “gave us strength.”
“We’ve seen what President Trump does. He smells weakness, he’ll latch on you like a pit bull,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending the government ad campaign that led U.S. President Donald Trump to end trade talks.
The Canadian Press
Mr. Carney’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The 60-second TV spot used archival footage of Mr. Reagan decrying American protectionism, saying such trade barriers hurt every American worker and consumer.
Mr. Trump has not yet issued any executive order to enforce the threatened 10-per-cent hike. It’s not clear if this new levy would apply to all Canadian imports or a selection of them. And he has announced no date for this increase.