Ontario Premier Doug Ford told reporters that Canada will “inflict as much pain as possible on the American people.”
Apparently the premier of Ontario has not seen the resolution passed by the Alaska House of Representatives earlier this week, when 33 members of the Alaska House voted for a resolution filled with accolades for Canada and the warm friendship it has with the United States.
The resolution lauded Canada as “Alaska’s only neighbor, reinforcing a unique and deeply interconnected relationship built on geography, history, and mutual economic and cultural ties, and pointed out how “the citizens of Canada and the citizens of Alaska have developed deep friendships, family ties, and collaborative relationships over the course of history.” The resolution is here.
Ford, along with British Columbia Premier David Eby, sees it more as a transactional relationship, rather than a friendship. Frenemies, if you will.
Ford told reporters he has asked the new Prime Minister Mark Carney to convene a ministers meeting to respond to President Donald Trump’s 25% tariffs on automotive imports, announced on Wednesday.
“I’m in full support of preparing retaliatory tariffs,” Ford told reporters. “Tariff for tariff. But, we want to see what [Trump is] going to do on April 2.”
Ontario is the center of Canada’s auto industry and could be significantly affected by the tariffs.
Premier Ford has been outspoken since Trump started trying to correct trade imbalances. Earlier, he treated to cut off the electricity supply to three states. Ontario supplies electricity to Michigan, Minnesota, and New York, powering about 1.5 million homes and businesses.
“I do not want to hurt other provinces, but I can assure you one thing, we’re going to make sure that we inflict as much pain as possible to the American people without inflicting pain on the Canadian population,” Ford said, apparently unaware of the deep friendship that the 33 Alaska House of Representatives members think Alaska has with Canada.
Earlier, Premier Eby of British Columbia introduced the Economic Stabilization (Tariff Response) Act, Bill 7, on March 13. It would give Eby the power to impose tolls, tariffs, or fees on US commercial vehicles traveling through the province to Alaska on the Alaska Highway. The bill passed its first reading on March 13.
Eby has said that tolls could pressure Alaskan politicians to influence Trump to reconsider his tariff policies.
The British Columbia Trucking Association strongly opposes the legislation, and has warned of potential US retaliation that could harm BC’s economy.
Even the mayor of Fort Nelson, BC has cautioned that such tolls could devastate local economies along the Alaska Highway. He told reporters that tolls would be “the last nail in the coffin” for Fort Nelson’s struggling economy, which relies on traffic along the Alaska Highway.
Mayor Rob Fraser said every foreign dollar from truck drivers — whether spent on a flat tire, a sandwich, or a cup of coffee — is vital to the local economy, especially after downturns in forestry and petroleum industries, a population decline, and setbacks from Covid-19 and wildfires.
Some Alaskans have raised questions about whether the BC tariffs or tolls would be legal under the international treaty that governs the Alaska Highway. It prohibits Canada from imposing charges on US travelers unless the same charges are applied to Canadians.
But the Alaska House Joint Resolution 11 is the response that Eby was looking for — a request from the Alaska House to President Trump to back down on the tariffs on Canadian goods.
Instead, Trump imposed the tariffs on all auto imports, which evoked the hyped-up response from Premier Ford, who clearly said that he intends to cause pain to Americans — “as much pain as possible.”
