All 13 of the country’s premiers will remain united as “Team Canada” in the face of a tariff threat from the United States despite “chaos” in Ottawa, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said hours after the federal finance minister’s resignation.
Ford chaired a meeting Monday of the provincial and territorial leaders in Toronto, and one of the top agenda items was to discuss a warning from U.S. president-elect Donald Trump that he will impose a 25 percent import tariff on goods coming from Canada and Mexico when he takes office.
But the discussions took on a different tone, as Chrystia Freeland announced her resignation from cabinet around the time the premiers began their meeting.
At the Council of the Federation meeting closing press conference, Ford painted the premiers as having a steady set of hands on the tiller amid far more turbulent federal waters.
“It’s chaos right now up in Ottawa and it’s time that what we do every single day, the premiers: we step up and we’ll make sure that we tell the world that there is stability here,” Ford said.
“There is certainty here in Canada and by all means it’s a great place to invest in any of our provinces or territories.”
Freeland’s resignation letter—coming the same day as she had been set to deliver a fall economic update—said she and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been “at odds,” and she wrote that Canada needs to eschew “costly political gimmicks” as it braces for a tariff war.
She also wrote that pushing back against American economic nationalism means working in good faith and humility with the premiers.
The premiers, through Ford, said Monday the federal government needs to do a better job of engaging them on a strategy to fight back against the threatened tariffs. The provincial and territorial leaders are planning a premiers’ mission to Washington, D.C., in February, Ford said.
Trump has suggested that the tariffs will come into place unless both countries stop illegal border crossings and prevent drugs like fentanyl from entering the U.S.
The premiers have had virtual meetings with Trudeau to discuss the tariffs, press him for more funding on border security and plan a co-ordinated response. Those types of meetings need to happen regularly, the premiers said.
While some premiers have spoken about different approaches to handling Trump’s tariff threat, Ford has said they are all in agreement on the need to tighten border security and that Canada should meet its commitment to spend two percent of its GDP on national defence. Trudeau has pledged to meet that target by 2032.
Ford has come out strongly in favour of retaliatory tariffs and has threatened to in turn cut off the electricity the province supplies to several states.
But other premiers have spoken in favour of a different approach, with Alberta’s Danielle Smith saying she prefers the diplomatic route and doesn’t support retaliatory tariffs or cutting off Alberta’s oil and gas exports.
The premiers also agreed Monday on a new proposal to speed up approvals for life-saving medications. They will direct their ministers of health to begin a pilot project that will cut approvals processes by nine months, Ford said.
