Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday defended Toronto\u2019s bid to host a multinational defence bank, saying he did not believe in attacking rival campaigns by other Canadian cities. <\/p>\n
Ford made the comments after being asked during a news conference to respond to allegations that Toronto officials have been lobbying for their city by raising the threat of a potential Quebec sovereignty referendum. Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, and Vancouver are all competing to host the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank, which would finance defence projects for NATO members and allies.<\/p>\n
The Ontario premier first tried to deflect the question. \u201cWell, I say Go Habs!\u201d Ford said in Toronto, referring to the NHL playoff run of the Montreal Canadiens, the only Canadian team in the second round. \u201cYou know, Montreal is great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pressed on the issue, Ford didn\u2019t directly address the allegations but said he didn\u2019t think relations between Ontario and Quebec will be damaged by their competing bids. \u201cWe\u2019re going to continue having that great relationship,\u201d he said of the two provinces. ” \u2026 it\u2019s critical that we work together.”<\/p>\n
Following a meeting held in Montreal from April 23 to 26 with representatives of 18 countries, Canada was selected to host the headquarters of the defence bank, but the federal government has yet to choose a host city.<\/p>\n
Last week, political figures in Quebec denounced allegations, first reported in La Presse, that Toronto officials had brought up the sovereignty movement to scare the federal government from choosing Montreal as the bank\u2019s headquarters. With five months to go before the next provincial elections in Quebec, the PQ is leading in the polls and has pledged to hold a referendum during its first mandate if elected.<\/p>\n
Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada\u2019s office declined to comment Tuesday when asked about Ford\u2019s news conference and referred to a letter sent on May 6 to Prime Minister Mark Carney, signed by major Quebec financial players lobbying for Montreal.<\/p>\n
The group co-ordinated through Finance Montr\u00e9al \u2014 the province\u2019s financial cluster that brings together banks, institutional investors, and industry partners \u2014 has joined several Quebec politicians in lobbying for Montreal as the natural choice to house the bank\u2019s headquarters, citing its financial strength and international connections.<\/p>\n
Signatories, including La Caisse, Desjardins, Banque Nationale, and the Fonds de solidarit\u00e9 FTQ, said Montr\u00e9al\u2019s financial sector was \u201cready to pass to action,\u201d offering immediate support from its major banks, access to global financial markets, and strong pools of institutional investors and financial experts.<\/p>\n
It also described Montreal as offering \u201cthe best conditions in the country,\u201d citing its financial sector, defence industry presence, and international organizations, including UN offices and NATO-related centres.<\/p>\n
But Ford said Toronto was the only city in Canada capable of meeting the bank\u2019s needs, pointing to its status as one of North America\u2019s largest financial hubs, home to Canada\u2019s five largest banks, major pension funds, and several international financial institutions.<\/p>\n
Ontario has already found a temporary location for the bank and will help it find a permanent one, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need the federal government to choose a host city for the bank that can help it hit the ground running, a place with (a) world-class workforce, the banking and defence manufacturing expertise and the global connections that will help the bank succeed,\u201d said Ford.<\/p>\n
The Ontario premier said he hasn\u2019t received any clarity from Ottawa on what criteria will be used in selecting the host city.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 12, 2026.<\/p>\n
\u2014 By Charlotte Glorieux in Montreal with files from Rianna Lim in Toronto<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Tuesday defended Toronto\u2019s bid to host a multinational defence bank, saying he did…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":791892,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[64,2147,25911,1571,50,39343,80],"class_list":{"0":"post-791891","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-defence","11":"tag-national","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-ontario-quebec","14":"tag-politics"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116563642410951874","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=791891"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/791891\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=791891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=791891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=791891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}