Doug Ford has won another term. What’s his 1st order of business?
After making it a central part of his re-election bid, experts say Ontario Premier Doug Ford will need to be ready to implement his proposed multibillion-dollar stimulus package as his new government waits to see if U.S President Donald Trump makes good on his tariff threats.
Ford won a third majority government on Thursday by positioning himself as the leader best suited to take on Trump and his plan to impose 25 per cent tariffs on most Canadian goods entering the U.S.
The PC leader’s campaign platform laid out billions in aide that could be deployed. That includes a new $5-billion Protect Ontario Account, $10 billion in support for employers through a tax deferral, up to $3 billion more in payroll and premium relief and up to $40 million for municipalities hard hit by tariffs.
In his speech on election night, Ford struck a non-partisan tone, but indicated a readiness to act.
“I will work with every level of government and every political stripe, because fighting back against Donald Trump, standing up for Canada, it will take a full team Ontario effort,” he said. “It will take a full team Canada effort.”
Ford has also threatened retaliation if the tariffs are imposed, including pulling all American booze off LCBO shelves, ripping up a deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink and banning U.S. companies from competing for contracts with the Ontario government.
WATCH: What Doug Ford has promised to do for Ontario in the next four years:
Ontario has chosen Doug Ford to be its premier for another four years. CBC’s Julia Knope breaks down his campaign promises — and what’s at stake for the province.
Ford team plays waiting game on tariff threat
Conservative strategist Dan Mader said if the tariffs are imposed, he expects Ford will be ready to act.
“If the economy starts to get hammered, this is going to be like the beginning of the pandemic when governments were scrambling to respond and making decisions day by day to really save jobs and save peoples’ livelihoods,” said Mader, who is also a founding partner at Loyalist Strategies.
Cristine de Clercy, a political science professor at Trent University, said the impulse from the Ford team will be to move quickly, but they could be limited to playing a secondary role to the federal government in response to Trump.
“We have to recognize the nature of the condition,” she said. “He’s a provincial premier trying to influence international policy agenda. So there are real limits on his capacity to act and react in the current trade war context.”
Former Liberal cabinet minister John Milloy said Ford’s team will be under immense pressure to act quickly if the tariff’s are imposed, especially after calling the early election. But they’re also forced to play a frustrating waiting game with Trump, who has postponed imposition of the tariff’s before.
“He’s been all over the map on this and he’s cried wolf several times,” said Milloy, who is now the director of the Centre for Public Ethics at Martin Luther University College.
“But if we see tariffs, if we see a huge hit to sectors like the auto industry, Mr. Ford better be in a position to respond.”
Premier should shift focus to health care, expert says
Milloy said he also thinks Ford may want to shift his focus to issues closer to home as a first order of business.
“I think there was a reason why he got the same number of seats,” he said. “It’s because of the state of the health-care system. And I think he’s gotta put more effort into that.”
Mader said outside of any potential tariff response, he expects Ford to focus on building transit, housing and improving the health-care system.
“There were a lot of good promises made in this campaign on things like infrastructure, on things like health care, getting more family health teams funded,” he said. “There is more work to be done on housing and getting things built.”
Ford also made what could possibly be one of the most expensive campaign promises in the history of the province: pledging to build a tunnel under Highway 401 in Toronto.
Experts have said the tunnel could cost upwards of $100 billion, though the province has not released a cost estimate or a feasibility study. De Clercy said she’ll be watching to see what Ford does next on this promise.
“Given [the results], he has a pretty free reign to do what he wants as premier,” she said. “Also, he has quite an admirable capacity to walk back ideas or decisions that he took that proved later on to be questionable or erroneous.”
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