Copyright thestar
It’s time for Doug Ford to focus on being the premier of Ontario. He’ll be sad to hang up the Captain Canada cape, but the best thing he can do to help this country stand up to U.S. President Donald Trump is to make sure our most populous province is running at peak efficiency. Right now, it isn’t. Let’s get something out of the way right off the top: I don’t blame Ford for the breakdown in trade relations between Canada and the United States. The blame for that lies entirely with Trump. He blew up the last deal, and he could ram a new one through if he wanted. He doesn’t. The commercial that has so angered the president makes for a convenient excuse. Absent that, he’d have found another one. But there are real criticisms to make of Ford here. He was not elected to do foreign policy or to play one half of a good cop/bad cop routine. Prime Minister Mark Carney is clearly the other half, and Ford is has been channelling Canadians’ frustration through Action and Doing Things — likely to buy Carney cover to play the good cop. The routine ain’t working. The Americans are more than savvy enough to have figured out what we’re up to. They’ve responded to our good cop/bad cop strategy by shooting both cops and then torching the police station. So let’s reassess. What should we really be doing? What is the right way for Canada to respond to this shift in U.S. politics? It might involve buying ads in the U.S. There’s nothing wrong with speaking directly to the American people. I think the Ronald Reagan ad misses the mark, reflecting a massive misunderstanding of how thoroughly the Republican Party and its voters have capitulated to MAGA. Telling the average Trump voter that Reagan would disapprove — and expecting that to work — is a stage in the Canadian grieving process, not a viable political strategy. Ads in general? Sure. But they should be federal ads — or, even better, ads purchased by Canadian citizens and industry groups. And they should be hammering home the cost of Trump’s tariffs to American consumers, not appealing to the memory of a guy who wouldn’t recognize the political party he once led. In the meantime, as much as Ford clearly enjoys appearing on CNN, he’s got a province to lead. The only answer to American unpredictability (or hostility) is going to be Canadian strength. Ontario remains, as the cliché goes, the economic engine of this country. But that engine could be running a lot better. Ontario, going by GDP per capita, would be one of the poorest states in the union. We’ve got major infrastructure problems in this province. The health system is an omni-cluster-fuddle. Public safety and law and order are real concerns, and while some of that responsibility lies with the feds, some of it lands at Ford’s feet, too. And we still don’t know when the Eglinton Crosstown LRT will open. Just saying. All these things sap our strength. They discourage or penalize investment. They hamper growth. They make us weaker and less able to resist American pressure. And while Ford can’t do much about some things, there are absolutely other things he could be doing that lie entirely within his power. Aggressively incentivize growth. Deliver good, affordable services. Run a clean government. (That last one might be a stretch goal, but hey.) Right now, Ford isn’t hitting any of those marks. And I can’t help but worry that one of the reasons he took so readily to the Captain Canada role is that people who would normally be first in line to note his failures are now instead, perhaps to their own bafflement, praising the guy. Ford loves that kind of praise. He laps it up. When he starts getting this province — and, accordingly, this country — ready for our new geopolitical reality, I’ll offer him some myself. Meanwhile, I can offer only advice: focus on your job, Premier. It’s the best way you can actually help.
