Ontario Premier Doug Ford calls on the US Ambassador to Canada to apologize to the province's trade representative, saying that Piet Hoekstra the behavior was “totally unacceptable” but added that he felt “angry”.
“Pete, you need to call Dave and apologize, it's just that the cheese slipped off the cracker,” Ford said Wednesday. “I know you’re annoyed, but call this guy because you’re a good guy and Dave is my champion.”
Ford was referring to a report in the Globe and Mail that Hoekstra gave what he called a scolding of Ontario Trade Representative David Paterson at the Canada-American Business Council's annual gala on Monday. over a Ford government commercial released last week.
“Totally unacceptable, never heard of it. Whatever I'm getting at, I'm not telling him, I'm guessing one day you have a temper, call Dave and say, 'I'm sorry.' Sorry. Got a little heated,” Ford said when asked if such comments were acceptable for a diplomat.
The prime minister said he liked Hoekstra and called him a “good guy” but called on the ambassador to apologize and “bury the hatchet.”
Hoekstra's reported comments came just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was ending trade talks with Canada over a $75 million advertising campaign.
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The ad reflected former Republican President Ronald Reagan's views on tariffs and protectionism and drew the ire of Trump, who repeatedly called it a “fraud.”
Trump also announced Saturday that he would add a 10 percent tariff on top of existing tariffs in Canada, although he did not specify how or when the tariffs would be implemented.
Several Canadian prime ministers have come out in support of the ad. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said last Thursday, before trade talks were suspended, that Ford should not stop advertising.
British Columbia Premier David Eby told reporters Monday that his province will continue its own U.S. advertising campaign against Trump's “unfair and absurd” timber tariffs.
“It is absolutely critical that we talk to Americans about the consequences of tariffs, about the fact that trade policy in the United States is now governed not by logic, not by economics, not by relationships, but by something entirely different,” Eby told reporters in Victoria, British Columbia.
However, following Trump's conclusion of trade negotiations, Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested that advertising was the only reason for the “unexpected turns” in the negotiations and stressed that while he is open to “unsolicited advice” on the discussions, negotiations are the “sole responsibility of the Government of Canada.”
“There were a series of very detailed, very specific, very comprehensive discussions, negotiations… right up to the point of running this ad,” Carney said during an international summit in Asia. “I would encourage you to take the president at his word.”
The prime minister was asked on Wednesday how he knew Carney and his chief of staff had seen the ad before he aired it, Ford replied: “I was with them.”
Ford then asked what the United States expected from him.
“When someone attacks your province, attacks your country, keeps saying this is the 51st state, tries to move our auto jobs to the United States, takes our manufacturing science jobs, tries to take our steel jobs, what do they expect from me?” he asked. “Sit down and roll over like every other person in the world? I'll fight like I've never fought before.”
He added that he made a bet with Hoekstra that if the Toronto Blue Jays won the World Series, the ambassador would have to wear a Jays jersey, and if the Jays lost, he would wear a Los Angeles Dodgers jersey.
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