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Snow plows rumbled and salt vehicles spewed de-icing pellets onto Toronto’s streets, barely seen underneath two ft of snow. A stocky man brandished a comically small pink shovel as he helped dig out a automobile trapped at an intersection.
The serving to hand was supplied by Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province and its largest economic system, who got here to the rescue of drivers trapped within the January 2022 snowstorm, even giving just a few of them rides dwelling.
Some residents criticized the gesture as having the patina of a public relations stunt, however the “little red shovel” second captured Mr. Ford’s essence: the Everyman who, regardless of missing a few of the polish of different politicians, nonetheless will get the job accomplished.
Mr. Ford has recently been main the cost in opposition to a distinct sort of storm that has rolled into Canada: President Trump’s threats to the nation’s economic system and his want to make it the 51st state.
Mr. Ford, 60, has thrust himself into the general public highlight, aggressively defending Canada’s sovereignty, economic system and honor, incomes him the moniker “Captain Canada” amongst some Canadians at a second when the nation feels betrayed by the US and has responded with fury.
“It’s like a member of the family stabbing you proper within the coronary heart,” Mr. Ford informed reporters after Mr. Trump started threatening tariffs on Canada. The premier has taken to carrying a “Canada Is Not For Sale” baseball cap and a “Never 51” hockey jersey, each alluding to Mr. Trump’s repeated statehood declarations.
He has pulled American alcohol off liquor retailer cabinets — Ontario is without doubt one of the largest patrons of U.S. spirits — and canceled the federal government’s contract with Starlink, an web firm owned by Elon Musk, Mr. Trump’s billionaire ally.
Mr. Ford, whose workplace stated he was unavailable for an interview, additionally briefly imposed a 25 % surcharge on the electrical energy that Ontario provides to Michigan, Minnesota and New York.
These ways have caught Mr. Trump’s consideration.
“There’s a really robust man in Canada,” Mr. Trump informed reporters final week, referring to Mr. Ford, who retreated on the surcharge after talking with Trump administration officers who supplied to fulfill their Canadian counterparts to debate the tariff standoff.
Mr. Ford, the chief of the Progressive Conservative Get together of Ontario, ended up becoming a member of a small delegation of Canadian authorities officers who traveled to Washington final week to debate the commerce battle on the White Home.
Nonetheless, Mr. Trump is predicted to hit Canada with one other spherical of tariffs on April 2. Canada has already retaliated in opposition to earlier tariffs with levies on $20.5 billion price of U.S. items.
Tariffs may push Canada’s economic system right into a recession, and already a handful of Canadian steel and manufacturing firms have introduced dozens of layoffs in response to the commerce conflict.
“If we go right into a recession, it’s self-made by one particular person,” Mr. Ford stated throughout an interview for American tv, the place he has develop into a daily presence on Fox Information and MSNBC, amongst different networks. “It’s known as President Trump’s recession.”
Ontario has spent tens of millions in promoting {dollars} on commercials broadcast to an American viewers highlighting the ties between the 2 nations and warning of the ache that tariffs on Canada would trigger to their pocketbooks.
Canada has lengthy seen itself as being in the US’ shadow, however Mr. Trump’s aggressive marketing campaign, together with fixed grievances that Canada takes monetary benefit of the US, has ignited a newfound sense of satisfaction and a recognition of its function on the world stage.
“I’m feeling extremely patriotic, extremely pushed to guard what I do know we now have,” stated Arlene Dickinson, a Canadian investor, tv persona and member of a federal commerce advisory group.
She credit Mr. Ford for loudly projecting that sentiment.
“He hasn’t wavered,” Ms. Dickinson stated. “He hasn’t put particular person pursuits forward of the entire nation’s pursuits.”
The commerce conflict has come at a second of upheaval in Canadian politics. Justin Trudeau, Canada’s just lately departed prime minister, has been succeeded by Mark Carney, a former central banker, who’s quickly anticipated to name a nationwide election that may pit his celebration, the Liberals, in opposition to the Conservatives.
With Canada’s high political management place in transition, Mr. Ford has been seen as a stand-in consultant for the nation. He capitalized on his reputation by calling a provincial election greater than a yr early and handily gained a majority.
Dennis Pilon, a politics professor at York College in Toronto, stated dashing the Ontario election helped Mr. Ford maintain the momentum and eyes on him.
“He did that exactly to stop the narrative from shifting wherever else,” Mr. Pilon stated.
Earlier than changing into Ontario’s premier in 2018, Mr. Ford was elected in 2010 to the Toronto Metropolis Council, bolstered by voters generally known as “Ford Nation” who had additionally supported Mr. Ford’s brother, Rob Ford. He was a former Toronto mayor who died from most cancers in 2016 and whose turbulent political profession ended after he confessed to smoking crack cocaine.
Mr. Ford’s high-profile function in Canada’s standoff with the US has blurred a few of the controversies dogging him again dwelling, together with a plan to transform waterfront parkland in Toronto right into a spa.
The authorities are additionally investigating opaque actual property offers brokered by his authorities to make tracts of environmentally protected land out there to builders.
And he has confronted backlash over his plan to handle Toronto’s infamous visitors issues by tearing out widespread bike lanes.
However Mr. Ford stays sought out for his ideas on Canada’s foremost problem overseas, telling reporters this week that Mr. Trump’s annexation threats had been a praise.
“We’ll by no means be a 51st state,” he stated. “Canada just isn’t on the market. However isn’t it good that somebody thinks we now have the best nation on this planet?”
