Despite Trump's anger, Canadian politicians won't say Ontario's anti-tariff ad was a mistake
U.S. president has promised to increase ‘tariff on Canada’ by 10% because of the ad
Although U.S. President Donald Trump has shredded Canada-U.S. trade talks over an Ontario government anti-tariff advertisement, Canadian politicians all the way from the municipal to the federal level are backing Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s approach and won’t say the ad was a mistake.
“I support the premier’s approach,” Brampton, Ont., Mayor Patrick Brown said in an interview on Rosemary Barton Live on Sunday. “Sometimes you need to throw a rock in a pond to get a splash. He’s got a reaction. It’s got a lot of coverage.”
“I’m glad our premier had the courage to call out the U.S. president on inconsistencies,” Brown told host Rosemary Barton.
It appears to have struck a nerve with U.S. President Donald Trump, who first cut off trade negotiations with Canada on Thursday evening over the advertisement and then promised to increase “the Tariff on Canada” by 10 per cent on Saturday afternoon.
What will get Canada-U.S. trade talks back on track?Trump claims the ad is fraudulent and fake. The president and his advisers have also argued Canada is trying to influence an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case which will decide whether U.S. tariffs that Trump imposed on Canada for national security purposes were constitutional.
In an interview on Face The Nation airing Sunday morning on CBS, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Ford "seems to have come off the rails a little" and argued that the advertisement is “interference in U.S. sovereign matters."
B.C. Minister of Forests Ravi Parmar told Barton on Sunday he thinks Ontario’s ad was effective and it “woke the president up.”
Parmer also said his government will run its own anti-tariff ads next month to defend British Columbia's forestry industry, but it won’t be as expansive as Ford’s ad campaign.
“We certainly appreciate the hard work that Premier Ford is doing. We’re going to be very measured in our approach,” Parmar said.
B.C. minister speaks on plan to run anti-Trump tariff adsPrince Edward Island Premier Rob Lantz said on Sunday that Ford “has been a very strong voice for Ontario” and very effective at communicating Canadians’ frustrations with the tariffs.
“His ad was very clever,” Lantz said. “But he’s decided to pull it and I respect that and now we can continue to move forward.”
At the federal level, Liberal House leader Steven MacKinnon said in an interview that aired Sunday morning “Doug Ford’s on Team Canada. He’s maybe our first line setter. He’s been an incredible patriot.”
MacKinnon, who spoke with Barton before Trump’s latest tariff threat, added that he’s “loath to criticize” Ford for anything.
Government House leader says ‘hard choices’ are necessary in the upcoming federal budgetOn Friday, Ford said he will pull the ad from U.S. screens after this weekend. The ad aired during Saturday night's World Series game, meaning millions more Americans saw the clip since it first began running in mid-October.
In a statement posted to social media that day, Ford said his province’s intention “was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses.”
“We’ve achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.”
So what does Canada do next?
As things stand, Canada must now navigate how to get U.S. discussions back on track and stave off Trump’s latest tariff threat. Despite the president’s social media post, it remains unclear whether he’s actually followed through on the promise or will follow through later.
Brian Clow, former deputy chief of staff to prime minister Justin Trudeau, said on Sunday that Carney “should be trying to find Donald Trump” in the hallways of a summit they’re both attending right now in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
“Ontario’s now done the thing that the president wants,” Clow said. “The ad will be pulled in the next 24 hours. So that gives the prime minister something positive to say to Donald Trump.”
U.S. senator says it's 'embarrassing' to have a president 'who lets an ad rattle him so deeply'In his social media post Saturday afternoon, Trump argued the “Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD.”
Frank McKenna, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States, said on Sunday it’s possible Canada was getting too close to a deal and Trump wanted to “push us off the puck a bit.”
One of Carney’s objectives on this Southeast Asia trip is seeking out stronger trade ties with countries in the region to ease Canada’s reliance on U.S. trade. McKenna said the prime minister is “doing the right things” to push the U.S. to acknowledge how much it needs Canadian trade.
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With files from Philip Ling, Sarina Mohan, Brock Wilson
Trump’s outrage toward Canada ‘super childish behaviour,’ says U.S. Democratic senator
Tim Kaine says Trump’s anger is a ‘temper tantrum’ that will blow over eventually
U.S. senator says it's 'embarrassing' to have a president 'who lets an ad rattle him so deeply'Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia says U.S. President Donald Trump’s outrage toward Canada over an anti-tariff advertisement by the Ontario government is “a temper tantrum” that will blow over — but it’s embarrassing for the United States.
“It’s just one more example of super childish behaviour by the president,” Kaine said in an exclusive Canadian interview on Rosemary Barton Live airing Sunday morning. “The ad was a very fair ad."
Canada’s trade discussions with the U.S. have been plunged into peril after Ontario aired an advertisement featuring audio clips by then-president Ronald Reagan, who criticized tariffs during an address he delivered in 1987.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD,” the U.S. president said, further arguing that Reagan “LOVED” tariffs for national security purposes and the economy.
Why Trump just ‘terminated’ Canada-U.S. trade talks | About ThatJust a few days earlier, Trump said he was terminating all trade discussions with Canada over the advertisement, reiterating that it was fake and fraudulent.
Kaine, who taped the interview with host Rosemary Barton less than an hour before Trump’s 10 per cent tariff threat, said the president’s trade war “is a self-inflicted wound on the American economy. So we’ve got to get back to the table."
Trump’s anger “won’t last," he said. "But it’s embarrassing for the United States that we have a president who lets an ad rattle him so deeply.”
On Friday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he will pull the advertisement from U.S. screens after this weekend. The advertisement aired during Saturday night's World Series game, meaning millions more Americans saw the ad on their screens since it first began running in mid-October.
Kaine said what will bring Trump and his team back to trade talks is “less likely to be a Canadian negotiating move. What’s going to get them back to the table is the undeniable economic reality.”
Kaine leading charge to end U.S. tariffs
Earlier this month, Kaine and some of his Senate colleagues, including Republican Sen. Rand Paul, introduced legislation to terminate the national emergency that Trump has invoked to justify his tariffs on Canada, Mexico and other countries.
Kaine said when he challenged Canadian tariffs earlier this year in April — an endeavour that ultimately failed — Republicans told him they generally agree tariffs are bad but they weren’t sure if his prediction of economic damage would be correct.
Trump's tariffs based on 'fake Canadian emergency,' says U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine“I think we will get Republican senators on this vote in October, in addition to the four Republicans who voted with us in April,” Kaine said.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November. If Trump loses, the tariffs he slapped on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration would be quashed, along with what he likes to call his "Liberation Day" tariffs.
Kaine said that Trump "can be petulant, but the facts and the economic chaos are closing in on him. And I think that will get the president back to the table with Canada."
The court case appears to be on Trump’s mind. In his Saturday afternoon post, the president claimed the sole purpose of Canada’s “FRAUD” was hoping the Supreme Court will come to the country’s rescue over his tariffs.
Trump official says Ford has ‘come off the rails a little’
In an interview on Face The Nation airing Sunday morning on CBS, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Ford "seems to have come off the rails a little" and argued that the advertisement is “interference in U.S. sovereign matters."
“It’s clearly damaged our relationship with the most populous province in Canada,” Bessent told host Margaret Brennan.
The Ontario premier has not publicly commented yet on Trump’s latest tariff threat. Prime Minister Mark Carney is currently in Southeast Asia trying to strengthen Canada’s trade partnerships with countries in the region.
On Sunday, at the opening of the ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Carney addressed leaders about the importance of “reliable partners who honour their commitments."
In a press scrum afterwards, Carney said that “the government of Canada stands ready to build on the progress that we had been making in our negotiations, our discussions with our American counterparts.”
“We have a consistent focus in those discussions on doing the best deal for Canadian workers and their families," he said. “It is the sole responsibility of the government of Canada to have those discussions with the United States, and it's the best way forward."
The prime minister also said Canada intends to “more than double our exports away from the United States over the course of the next decade."
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With files from Mike Crawley
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Moose sex corridor expands with land donation
Project aims to help mating moose move from New Brunswick into Nova Scotia
The Nature Conservancy of Canada has received another 83 hectares of private land to help it promote cross-border moose love at the boundary of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The land conservation group has been assembling parcels of land to form a corridor on the Chignecto Isthmus as part of its so-called Moose Sex Project.
To date, donations have come from a number of private landowners, including Derek Burney, the former Canadian ambassador to the United States.
The latest donation, announced on Thursday, is from Kenneth Lund and his late brother Daniel Lund of Sackville, N.B.
They have provided wooded land along Route 16, about six kilometres from Baie Verte, between the Missiquash Marsh and the Tintamarre National Wildlife Area.
The project is aimed at encouraging the migration of New Brunswick's healthy moose population into mainland Nova Scotia, where the species has been endangered since 2003.
The conservation group notes that in addition to moose, other mammals and bird species such as Canada lynx, bobcat and northern goshawk can use the corridor between the two Maritime provinces.
Trump says he's hiking 'tariff on Canada' by 10% over Ontario government ad
The Ford government planned to pull the ad Monday — after airing in the U.S. during the World Series
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced on social media he will be increasing “the Tariff on Canada” by 10 per cent “over and above what they are paying now" because of an advertisement by the Ontario government.
“Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Saturday afternoon.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD,” the U.S. president added.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association and member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, said on social media "to be clear, a TV commercial is about to cost American consumers about $50B because [Trump's] mad."
Trump’s announcement is the latest escalation over an Ontario government advertisement that uses the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own words to send an anti-tariff message to American audiences.
See the anti-tariff ad Doug Ford has been airing in the U.S. On Thursday night, Trump said he was terminating all trade discussions with Canada over the advertisement, which he described then as fraudulent and fake.
He continued that criticism in his Saturday afternoon post, arguing that Reagan "LOVED" tariffs for national security purposes and the economy.
Just before Trump cut off trade talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said it took issue with the ad and claimed the Ontario government "did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remark."
In an interview with CBC's The House that aired Saturday morning, Derek Burney, former chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney, said it was Mulroney and Reagan's commitment to free trade that helped the two men land an agreement between Canada and the United States.
“The thing that drove it home was the commitment from the president and prime minister. Nobody in America is in any doubt about Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs,” Burney said.
Why Trump just ‘terminated’ Canada-U.S. trade talks | About ThatFord said on Friday his government will pull the advertisement from U.S. screens after this weekend, but millions more Americans are still expected to view it during the World Series game tonight.
Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said "tariffs at any level remain a tax on America first, then North American competitiveness as a whole."
Trump’s tariffs and the U.S. Supreme Court
In his post, Trump also claimed the sole purpose of Canada’s “FRAUD” was hoping the United States Supreme Court will come to the country’s rescue.
The Trump administration has requested the Supreme Court overturn a ruling by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals that the president’s move to impose broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and dozens of other countries was unconstitutional.
Canadians have been 'very difficult' to negotiate with on trade, Trump adviser saysThe Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November. If Trump loses, the tariffs he slapped on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration would be quashed, along with what he likes to call his "Liberation Day" tariffs.
On Thursday, Trump made a similar statement and claimed the Ontario ad was designed to “interfere” with what he called “THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER.”
Carney in Malaysia to attend summit
Prime Minister Mark Carney is currently in Malaysia in search of trade opportunities with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trump is expected to arrive on Sunday.
The prime minister has not yet publicly commented on Trump's latest announcement. However, after the U.S. president announced he was terminating trade talks with Canada, Carney gave a brief response to reporters in Ottawa.
'We stand ready' to talk trade with U.S., Carney says after Trump cuts off negotiations“We stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions because it will be for the benefit of workers in the United States, workers in Canada and families in both our countries,” the prime minister said.
Carney also said discussions had been moving forward in specific sectors on tariff relief, such as steel, aluminum and energy.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said on social media that trade talks should be between officials from Washington and Ottawa.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized Carney in a social media post on Saturday evening, saying if the prime minister had achieved a trade deal by the July 21 deadline he imposed on himself earlier this summer, Canada would not be facing Trump's latest tariff hike.
"The cost of the prime minister's broken promises is higher U.S. tariffs and lost jobs," Poilievre said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Mike Crawley
Trump says he's hiking 'tariff on Canada' by 10% over Ontario government ad
The Ford government planned to pull the ad Monday — after airing in the U.S. during the World Series
U.S. President Donald Trump has announced on social media he will be increasing “the Tariff on Canada” by 10 per cent “over and above what they are paying now" because of an advertisement by the Ontario government.
“Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs,” Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social on Saturday afternoon.
“Their Advertisement was to be taken down, IMMEDIATELY, but they let it run last night during the World Series, knowing it was a FRAUD,” the U.S. president added.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association and member of the Prime Minister’s Council on Canada-U.S. Relations, said on social media "to be clear, a TV commercial is about to cost American consumers about $50B because [Trump's] mad."
Trump’s announcement is the latest escalation over an Ontario government advertisement that uses the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own words to send an anti-tariff message to American audiences.
See the anti-tariff ad Doug Ford has been airing in the U.S. On Thursday night, Trump said he was terminating all trade discussions with Canada over the advertisement, which he described then as fraudulent and fake.
He continued that criticism in his Saturday afternoon post, arguing that Reagan "LOVED" tariffs for national security purposes and the economy.
Just before Trump cut off trade talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute said it took issue with the ad and claimed the Ontario government "did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remark."
In an interview with CBC's The House that aired Saturday morning, Derek Burney, former chief of staff to prime minister Brian Mulroney, said it was Mulroney and Reagan's commitment to free trade that helped the two men land an agreement between Canada and the United States.
“The thing that drove it home was the commitment from the president and prime minister. Nobody in America is in any doubt about Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs,” Burney said.
Why Trump just ‘terminated’ Canada-U.S. trade talks | About ThatFord said on Friday his government will pull the advertisement from U.S. screens after this weekend, but millions more Americans are still expected to view it during the World Series game tonight.
Candace Laing, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, said "tariffs at any level remain a tax on America first, then North American competitiveness as a whole."
Trump’s tariffs and the U.S. Supreme Court
In his post, Trump also claimed the sole purpose of Canada’s “FRAUD” was hoping the United States Supreme Court will come to the country’s rescue.
The Trump administration has requested the Supreme Court overturn a ruling by the U.S. Federal Court of Appeals that the president’s move to impose broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and dozens of other countries was unconstitutional.
Canadians have been 'very difficult' to negotiate with on trade, Trump adviser saysThe Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in November. If Trump loses, the tariffs he slapped on Canada and Mexico over fentanyl trafficking and illegal immigration would be quashed, along with what he likes to call his "Liberation Day" tariffs.
On Thursday, Trump made a similar statement and claimed the Ontario ad was designed to “interfere” with what he called “THE MOST IMPORTANT CASE EVER.”
Carney in Malaysia to attend summit
Prime Minister Mark Carney is currently in Malaysia in search of trade opportunities with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Trump is expected to arrive on Sunday.
The prime minister has not yet publicly commented on Trump's latest announcement. However, after the U.S. president announced he was terminating trade talks with Canada, Carney gave a brief response to reporters in Ottawa.
'We stand ready' to talk trade with U.S., Carney says after Trump cuts off negotiations“We stand ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions because it will be for the benefit of workers in the United States, workers in Canada and families in both our countries,” the prime minister said.
Carney also said discussions had been moving forward in specific sectors on tariff relief, such as steel, aluminum and energy.
Dominic LeBlanc, the minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, said on social media that trade talks should be between officials from Washington and Ottawa.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre criticized Carney in a social media post on Saturday evening, saying if the prime minister had achieved a trade deal by the July 21 deadline he imposed on himself earlier this summer, Canada would not be facing Trump's latest tariff hike.
"The cost of the prime minister's broken promises is higher U.S. tariffs and lost jobs," Poilievre said.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Mike Crawley
Trump calls off trade talks with Canada over Ontario's anti-tariff ad
Ontario government to pull ad after president's remarks, but not until Monday
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday he would terminate all trade negotiations with Canada over an advertisement by the Ontario government that uses the late U.S. president Ronald Reagan's own words to send an anti-tariff message to American audiences.
In a late-night post to his Truth Social platform, Trump attacked the ad, which he attributed to Canada rather than Ontario, as fraudulent and fake.
"TARIFFS ARE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY, AND ECONOMY, OF THE U.S.A." Trump wrote. "Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED."
He slammed the "crooked ad" again Friday night, shortly after it aired during the seventh inning of Fox's national broadcast of Game 1 of the World Series between the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers.
"They could have pulled it tonight," Trump said as he left the White House for a trip to this weekend's Association of Southeast Asian Nations Summit in Malaysia. "Well, that's dirty play — but I can play dirtier than they can, you know."
He also told reporters he had no plans to speak or meet with Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is also en route to Kuala Lumpur for the meeting.
Just two weeks ago, after Carney visited the White House, Trump directed two senior members of his cabinet to get a deal with Canada on steel, aluminum and energy.
Carney commented briefly on the president's remarks as he boarded a flight to Asia on Friday.
He said Canadian officials have been having "constructive" negotiations with their American counterparts and Canada "stands ready to pick up on that progress and build on that progress when the Americans are ready to have those discussions."
He did not take questions from journalists.
The ad that prompted Trump's sudden cancellation of the talks comes from Ontario Premier Doug Ford's government. It contains a minute-long excerpt from then-president Reagan's April 1987 radio address about free trade.
Ontario will pause anti-tariff ad after weekend World Series games"When someone says let's impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they're doing the patriotic thing by protecting American products and jobs," Reagan, a beloved figure among free-market Republicans, says in the voice-over used in the ad.
"High tariffs inevitably lead to retaliation by foreign countries and the triggering of fierce trade wars. Then the worst happens. Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industry shut down, and millions of people lose their jobs," the ad continues.
On Friday afternoon, Ford said he will pull the ad effective Monday — but not before it's seen by millions more Americans over the weekend as it airs during the World Series games.
Ford said he made the decision to "pause" the campaign after "speaking with Prime Minister Carney" so that trade talks between the two countries "can resume."
"Our intention was always to initiate a conversation about the kind of economy that Americans want to build and the impact of tariffs on workers and businesses. We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels," Ford wrote in an online post.
Reagan foundation takes issue
Trump had seen the ad earlier in the week, yet did not respond so virulently.
"I even see foreign countries now that we are doing very well with [tariffs] taking ads, 'Don't go with tariffs!'" Trump told a gathering of Republicans at the White House on Tuesday.
"I saw an ad last night from Canada. If I was Canada, I'd take that same ad also," said Trump. "But I do believe that everybody's too smart for that."
A few hours before Trump's late-night post that said he would be terminating trade talks, the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute also took issue with the ad.
"The ad misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address, and the Government of Ontario did not seek nor receive permission to use and edit the remarks," the institute said in a social media post on Thursday night.
The institute added that it "is reviewing its legal options in this matter."
Earlier, a spokesperson for Ford said the Ontario government did nothing wrong.
"The commercial uses an unedited excerpt from one of President Reagan’s public addresses, which is available through public domain," said the spokesperson in an email to CBC News.
"Reagan knew and spoke directly to Americans that tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, workers and families. He was a strong supporter of free and fair trade between Canada and America," the spokesperson said.
Ontario is spending $75 million on the campaign, with plans to air the ads on such networks as Fox News, Fox Sports, Newsmax, Bloomberg, NBC, CBS and ABC.
The ad has already been spotted on stations in the Washington, D.C., area, including during Game 7 of the American League Championship Series, which was won by the Toronto Blue Jays.
Ford launches anti-tariff ad campaign in U.S. Trade talks have been ongoing in Washington
The talks that Trump abruptly cancelled have been ongoing for the past two weeks in Washington, following the Carney-Trump meeting in the Oval Office on Oct. 7.
As recently as Wednesday, a spokesperson for Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc described the negotiations as making progress.
"Minister LeBlanc continues to engage with senior U.S. officials, as working towards an agreement with the United States is his top priority," said LeBlanc's press secretary Gabriel Brunet in an email to CBC News.
Brunet said LeBlanc's objective is "to build on the progress made until an agreement is reached that is in the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses.”
In his social media post, Trump claimed the anti-tariff ad campaign is designed to "interfere with the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court."
The court is scheduled to hear arguments next month into Trump's use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to impose broad-based tariffs on Canada, Mexico and dozens of other countries around the world.
This is not the first time that one of Ford's tactics in the trade war with the U.S. has drawn the ire of the Trump administration.
Ford's move to slap a surcharge on Ontario's electricity exports to U.S. states in March prompted Trump to threaten to double tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum exports to 50 per cent.
Ontario withdrew its surcharge a day later and Trump backed off on his threat, keeping the tariffs at 25 per cent. He ultimately boosted them to 50 per cent in June.
Trump says all trade negotiations with Canada are terminatedABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Ontario Premier Ford defends anti-tariff ad after Trump halts Canada-U.S. trade talks
The ads, which will be paused on Monday, have sparked mixed reaction
Is the anti-tariff ad really to blame for Canada-U.S. trade negotiations breaking down?Ontario Premier Doug Ford is standing by his decision to run an anti-tariff U.S. ad campaign after President Donald Trump halted trade talks with Canada because of it.
Still, Ford said the ads would go on pause starting Monday.
The ad features a clip of former U.S. president Ronald Reagan speaking about the risks that tariffs can pose for countries that implement them, which Trump decried as "fraudulent."
In a statement early on Friday, Ford's office defended the advertisement saying that the clip of Reagan, from one of his public addresses, was unedited and available to the public.
"President Ronald Reagan knew … that tariffs hurt the U.S. economy, workers and families. He was a strong supporter of free and fair trade between Canada and America,” said Grace Lee, a spokesperson for the premier's office.
See the anti-tariff ad Doug Ford has been airing in the U.S. In a statement released later on Friday, the premier's office doubled down on the intent behind the ad, but said it would be put on pause come Monday so trade talks could resume.
The ad campaign, which reportedly costs $75 million, and the initial decision to continue to air it, drew significant criticism from Ford’s political opponents.
“The best he can say to the plant workers that are losing their jobs right now is ‘don't worry, we'll train you for new jobs,’” said Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles at a Queen’s Park news conference on Friday.
“They’re saying we want to keep our jobs, help us protect these jobs now. But he's not interested in that. He wants to go off and wave a flag to get Donald Trump's attention; the job of the premier needs to be right here in the province of Ontario.”
The $75-million campaign cost would have been better spent internally, the Ontario Liberal Party said at a news conference Friday.
“Ontario's economy was hurting long before President Trump and U.S. tariffs. That's what the premier should be focused on,” said Stephanie Bowman, Liberal MPP for Don Valley West. Both the NDP and the Liberals had called for the ad campaign to be stopped.
In a social media post after that, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said she was "pleased" to see the campaign being suspended.
However, Ford had some support from Manitoba, where Premier Wab Kinew said “it’s clear that these ads are working” and encouraged Ford to keep airing them.
“They’re effective, and this country is behind you,” Kinew said in a post on social media .
Ford has also received support from one of Canada’s largest trade unions, Unifor.
“Premier Ford … understands that we can’t negotiate from our knees. We need to fight back. We can’t remain silent while we are bleeding jobs, and our workers and industries are under attack by unjust and punitive tariffs,” said the union’s national president, Lana Payne, in a statement.
In a statement, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce said it agreed with Ford’s belief that Americans “deserve to know the truth” about tariffs, which the chamber called an “act of massive self harm.”
CBC News has reached out to the Prime Minister's Office for comment.
Ottawa was informed of Trump's decision to scrap the talks shortly before he posted on social media, a senior federal government source previously told Radio-Canada late Thursday.
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Ontario's anti-tariff ad is clever, effective and legally sound, experts say
'The bottom line is, the ad was getting attention'
An Ontario government ad that attracted the wrath of U.S. President Donald Trump was successful — even if it didn’t produce the outcome provincial officials might have anticipated, say experts in political communication.
And, they expect, it will not face any serious legal challenges in the U.S., which allows a lot of latitude when it comes to political commentary.
The ad, which is airing in the U.S., features audio clips criticizing tariffs from a 1987 speech by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. It seems to have incensed Trump, who late on Thursday denounced it as "fake" — abruptly cutting off trade talks and accusing Canada of interfering with an upcoming U.S. Supreme Court decision.
“That ad worked. It was a good ad," said Alex Marland, a professor at Acadia University and the author of a book on political messaging.
He says the challenge for political advertising is to cut through the clutter, resonate with people and get their attention.
"In this particular case, the ad obviously was so successful that the president was upset."
Whether Ontario achieved its goals "is another thing," he said. "But the bottom line is, the ad was getting attention.”
Marland suggested Ontario run the ad for a couple more days in the hopes of getting media attention in the U.S. then “take their time” taking it down.
Premier Doug Ford says Ontario will end the $75 million campaign on Monday, because it achieved its goal “having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels.” By continuing over the weekend, the ad will be seen during the first two World Series games.
The Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute also criticized the ad, alleging it uses “selective audio and video” of the late Republican president. The foundation said it was reviewing its "legal options."
But Marland says the rules regarding such material in political ads have changed.
“I don’t have any concerns about it," he said. "If it gets used for political purposes, the main thing that I would be concerned about is if it’s manipulated, if content is spliced and suggests something that was nonintentional.”
Jacob Neiheisal, associate professor of political science with the University at Buffalo, also doubts the foundation would have much success with legal action, in part because U.S. courts have historically adopted a hands-off approach when it comes to political speech.
Neiheisal says Ontario’s ad is likely to get noticed in the U.S., but may not sway Republicans who support Trump and could trigger a backlash if it is perceived as outsiders telling Americans what to do.
“A lot of voters recoil very negatively when somebody outside of a district or outside of the area that they live in, has thoughts about what they should be doing. That sentiment, I think, certainly does have the potential to promote some backlash.”
Elly Alboim, a strategic communications expert at Earnscliffe Strategies and an associate professor of journalism at Carleton University, says the effectiveness of the ad will be influenced by how many people see it.
“I thought it was very clever. Whether people will understand it or whether it provides a call for action, I’m doubtful.”
Alboim, who is also a former parliamentary bureau chief for CBC News, said Reagan’s speech is in the public domain and that the ad does what journalists do all the time, use clips from a speech rather than the whole speech.
Alboim also questioned why the ad featuring decades-old video from a former president prompted Trump to cancel negotiations.
“The real issue is what is it about this ad that set Trump off like a rocket?”
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Trump's latest outburst is another reminder of how much has changed
Blowup over TV ad might reinforce the need to keep Team Canada together
As Donald Trump explained it, he was primarily worried about the accurate and honourable reporting of Ronald Reagan's views on trade policy — and concerned that a misrepresentation of the former U.S. president's views might somehow influence the justices of the United States Supreme Court.
And his belief in this regard is so strong that he was willing to suspend trade negotiations with one of his country's closest allies over a television ad.
"Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED." Trump announced in a social media post published at 10:30 p.m. ET on Thursday.
"If I was Canada I’d take that same ad also,” he said on Tuesday.
But Trump's new claims were built upon a pretext helpfully supplied by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, which claimed, in a statement issued shortly before Trump's announcement, that the ad produced by the government of Ontario somehow "misrepresents" what the foundation's namesake said — though the foundation has not yet specified exactly what was misrepresented or how.
Is the anti-tariff ad really to blame for Canada-U.S. trade negotiations breaking down?If nothing else, Trump and the Reagan foundation succeeded in ensuring that many more people are now familiar with the message the late president recorded in April 1987 — the New York Times, CNN and the BBC have all now dutifully produced explainers, while the foundation was gracious enough to post a link to the full archival video.
If they were not already familiar, Canadian and American viewers will no doubt come away with a richer understanding of the significant differences between the 40th and 47th presidents.
Indeed, if nothing else, this latest drama is another reminder — as if one was needed — of just how different a world Canada finds itself in and how immense and disorienting the challenge before it now is.
"I think we all cling to a model of behaviour of a president, out of comfort," Flavio Volpe, president of Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association, told CBC News on Friday morning, "and I don't know what good it does us now."
There are, Volpe cautioned, "no quick answers."
Ford declares victory
American complaints about Canadian responses to American actions have been a periodic feature of the last nine months. This is also not the first time Trump has declared a sudden end to trade negotiations because of a grievance he has with the Canadian side.
In that previous episode, Mark Carney's government agreed to resolve the grievance, abandoning a proposed digital services tax that American tech giants opposed. That at least kept the Americans talking, though three months later there is still no resolution.
"We've achieved our goal, having reached U.S. audiences at the highest levels," Ford said, claiming some measure of victory.
Perhaps that will also allow the president to claim victory, but comments from one of Trump's advisers on Friday suggested that there might be broader American frustrations with the Canadian side. (Depending on the demands being made by the American side, Canadians might not object to intransigence.)
On a broader level, this latest blowup might reinforce the need to keep Team Canada more or less together.
Do consequences still matter?
Ford's ad campaign was supported by other premiers — before Ontario agreed to end it, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew released a cheeky video on Friday calling on Ford to keep the ads on the air — and the Carney government hadn't objected. But Trump's dramatic response was a reminder of how interconnected all trade issues with the United States now are and how combustible the situation can be.
The blowups will undoubtedly continue, but it will at least be somewhat easier for the Canadian side if everyone is on the same page when they occur.
As always, it is hard to differentiate between spectacle and reality — whether the president was really aggrieved by the television ad or whether the television ad was a convenient proxy for other grievances. But Ontario's gambit might have always had the potential to leave a mark in a way other moves hadn't — first because it was broadcast on American television, second because it was aimed at the American voter.
Trump's fondness for television is well-documented. And American public opinion might still be the greatest source of potential leverage against his tariffs.
The American stock market, which might have been expected to sag under the weight of Trump's trade agenda, has been propped up by a rush to invest in artificial intelligence. And the New York Times reported on Friday that companies may be starting to pass on more of the extra costs of tariffs to consumers.
It was the consequences of high tariffs that Reagan was warning Americans about in 1987. Perhaps those consequences will still come. And however much has changed — and beyond the presidential theatrics — perhaps consequences still matter.
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