What Doug Ford accomplished on his Washington trip

February 13, 2025 Canuck

When Doug Ford emerged through the security gates surrounding the White House after an hour-long meeting on Wednesday, the Ontario Progressive Conservative leader declined to reveal who he’d actually met.

“I’m not at liberty to say, to be frank with you,” Ford said as he stood alongside Quebec’s François Legault and Saskatchewan’s Scott Moe, two of 11 Canadian premiers who went to the White House at the end of their two-day mission to Washington.

Ford described the Trump administration officials in the meeting as “very high-ranking” but refused to name them. Moments after Ford left, British Columbia’s David Eby named them anyway: Trump’s deputy chief of staff James Blair and the director of presidential personnel Sergio Gor.

Earlier in the day at a news conference, Ford was asked what success would be out of the Washington trip and set a rather high bar with his answer: “What success looks like is zero tariffs.”

Clearly that wasn’t achieved, nor is it realistic to think it could be. Still, Ford can count as an accomplishment that he and his fellow premiers got the chance to deliver an anti-tariff message to two senior staff who work directly for U.S. President Donald Trump.

“We appreciate the Trump administration facilitating this,” Ford told reporters outside the White House. “People don’t get last-minute meetings like this.”

WATCH | Premiers describe meeting with Trump officials:

Premiers describe ‘constructive’ meeting with Trump officials in Washington

12 hours ago

Duration 1:56

Several Canadian premiers discuss what came out of their meeting with officials from U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration at the White House. The premiers were in Washington on Wednesday to make the case against U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.

He didn’t mention how the Council of the Federation – the collective grouping of the 13 provincial and territorial premiers that Ford currently chairs – recently hired a Trump-connected lobby firm at a rate of $85,000 (US) per month to help land the meeting.

If that spending helps chip away at changing Trump’s mind about tariffs and contributes to saving the Canadian economy from a recession, the premiers will no doubt argue it was taxpayer money well-spent.

Ford’s first event draws mostly Canadians

Until that White House meeting happened Wednesday afternoon, plenty of questions swirled about what Ford and his fellow premiers were actually achieving in Washington.

Ford’s first event, billed as an address to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce at a downtown Washington hotel on Tuesday, drew an audience of about 150 people.

It was almost impossible to find an American in the room. The crowd was dominated by a mix of Canadian business people, Canadian lobbyists and Canadian officials.

That made it hard to comprehend who Ford was addressing with his final pitch to the audience.

“Let’s stick together,” Ford said. “Please get the message to President Trump. This is not a good idea for both countries.”

Doug Ford is seated in a chair, holding a microphone, with US and Canadian flags behind him. — Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during an event with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Washington. (Mark Schiefelbein/The Associated Press)

To be fair to Ford, the impact of a public speech in a Washington hotel pales in comparison to the impact of private meetings in the offices of Washington’s movers and shakers.

Ford and his fellow premiers did get some face time with a handful of members of Congress, including one Republican senator, as well as seven members of the House of Representatives: four Republicans, three Democrats.

None of them are household names in Canada, but two of the congressmen who met the premiers sit on the powerful Ways and Means Committee. That matters because the committee has jurisdiction over all taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising measures.

In other words, if you want allies with Congressional muscle on tariffs, those are your people.

Call with Trump’s ‘Tariff Man’

Ford made what is arguably his most important connection with the Trump administration before travelling to Washington. He had a call with Howard Lutnick, Trump’s nominee for secretary of commerce, a.k.a. the Tariff Man.

Various reports indicate that when it comes to tariffs, no one in the Trump administration is more influential than Lutnick.

Trump at desk, holds up order — U.S. President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order on aluminum tariffs this week, alongside his point man on tariffs, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

CBC News was first to report the call had happened, after spotting a line in a new Ontario government brochure saying Ford had met or spoken with “incoming cabinet secretaries.”

Ford’s staff confirmed the call took place recently, but declined to reveal any further details: how long it lasted, what was discussed, or even a vague description of the tone of the conversation.

U.S. trip plays into Ontario election

It’s worth looking at how all this U.S.-focused political effort by Ford plays into the other major political effort that’s on his plate right now: winning the Ontario election on Feb. 27.

For Ford and his PCs, two days in Washington meant two days not in Ontario, two days without facing tough questions about the many issues that matter to Ontario voters other than tariffs and Trump: the shortage of family doctors, emergency room wait times, the cost of living, the supply of housing, or Ford’s record in government.

Canada’s premiers announced their plans to come to Washington back on Jan. 10. That means when Ford triggered the provincial election in late January, he knew the trip would happen in the middle of the campaign.

By choosing the election timing, Ford and the PC strategists around him clearly believed a side trip to Washington would not hurt his campaign and almost certainly expected it would help. Ford has another trip to the U.S. capital scheduled next week, to coincide with a meeting of state governors.

WATCH | Ford sets a high bar for ‘success’:

Ford says success in Washington is ‘zero tariffs’

20 hours ago

Duration 1:46

Ontario Premier Doug Ford, who is in Washington along with all Canada’s premiers, said the goal is to connect with both Republicans and Democrats and communicate that Canada and the U.S. are stronger together — and that tariffs will hurt on both sides of the border.

Video of Ford in Washington talking tough about tariffs and describing his meeting at the White House plays well on national newscasts, and there are plenty of Ontario voters watching.

For Ford’s opponents, plugging along on the campaign trail back in Ontario, it’s been a challenge to land clear blows against him for the Washington trip.

“He’s not there in Washington to protect our jobs because the only job he wants to protect is his own,” Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said at a campaign stop in Toronto on Tuesday

“The fact that Doug Ford is down in Washington right now and has made very clear that he is 100 per cent behind Donald Trump, I think is causing a lot of Ontarians to wonder if he’s going to be there to defend our jobs,” NDP Leader Marit Stiles said at a campaign stop in London on Tuesday.

Taxpayers covered some costs

The Ontario PC Party paid the travel costs for Ford, his political staff and the two PC candidates-slash-ministers who came along to Washington, Stephen Lecce and Vic Fedeli.

Provincial taxpayers, however, paid the cost of hosting Ford’s U.S. Chamber of Commerce speaking event, producing a glossy brochure summarizing the vision that Ford calls “Building Fortress Am-Can,” and hosting an invitation-only networking event at the Library of Congress where Senator Kevin Cramer, a Republican from North Dakota, was the special guest.

Marit Stiles, seen from the side at a podium, with an antique car in the background. — Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles has questioned the purpose of Ford’s trip to Washington and the timing of his election call. (Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press)

Ontario’s political ethics watchdog has given the OK to Ford’s Washington trips, indicating that it’s in line with the so-called caretaker convention that allows urgent government business during an election campaign.

“Trade disputes and the imposition of tariffs constitute an urgent matter in the public interest,” said a spokesperson for the integrity commissioner in a statement to CBC News.

The statement says cabinet members can conduct such business “provided that the activities are not then used for partisan purposes.”

While this suggests the Ontario PC Party can’t use video of Ford’s Washington lobbying efforts in campaign ads, the party’s strategists are almost certainly counting his trip as a big win.

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