Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford takes a selfie in Milton, Ont. on Feb. 20, 2025.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is defending his multimillion-dollar ad campaign airing on U.S. networks, including sponsoring Fox News host Sean Hannity’s interview with Donald Trump and Elon Musk, as a way to inform Americans about the impact that tariffs on Canadian goods will have on the U.S. economy.
However, Mr. Ford would not reveal how much his government is spending on the ad buy, expected to be in the tens of millions, even as he said taxpayers have the right to know. The PC Leader suggested members of the public and media could file a freedom-of-information request to find out the cost.
“I’ve never had a bigger bang for our buck, when we’re in a fight for our lives, when we’re in a fight for the people’s jobs behind me, to get the message out that we’re close allies,” Mr. Ford said Thursday at a campaign stop at a manufacturing facility in Milton, Ont.
Mr. Ford was responding to a report in The Globe and Mail that revealed the Ontario government sponsored Tuesday night’s Hannity, one of the highest-rated U.S. cable news shows, which aired a prerecorded interview with the U.S. President and Mr. Musk, the tech entrepreneur who leads the newly created Department of Government Efficiency.
“This program is brought to you by Ontario, Canada, your trusted economic partner,” the ad said, accompanied by an “Ontario Canada” logo with a maple leaf. It was followed by an Ontario government commercial that showcases the strong economic ties between the province and the U.S.
Ontario launched the ad campaign late last year. Mr. Ford’s spokesperson, Grace Lee, said the Hannity sponsorship is part of the province’s original deal with Fox and that no new money is being spent during the current election campaign, which will see Ontarians go to the polls on Feb. 27.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly threatened to impose across-the-board 25-per-cent tariffs on Canadian goods, as well as 25-per-cent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, all the while musing about making Canada the 51st state – a proposition that has been repudiated by Canadian elected officials across the political spectrum.
Ontario’s opposition parties slammed Mr. Ford’s ads as wasteful and accused him of trying to distract from his own record during the campaign. They also criticized his recent trip to Washington, saying he didn’t achieve meaningful results.
Mr. Ford said Thursday his government’s advertisements are also airing on several other networks, including CNN and CNBC, and have been seen by hundreds of millions of people.
“Those ads are extremely effective,” he said.
“We have to tell the Canadian story. We have to tell the American friends – and they are our friends and they are our allies – that without Canada, there’s going to be inflation. A Trump tariff on Canada is a tax on Americans. Simple.”
The PC Leader, who called the election almost 1½ years early, is running a campaign centred on protecting the province from Mr. Trump’s tariff threats.
He travelled to Washington last week to meet with U.S. lawmakers, and he was joined by other premiers in meeting with two senior Trump officials at the White House. However, one of them – Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff James Blair – said on X after the meeting that officials “never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state.”
Asked about Mr. Blair’s statement, Mr. Ford said he reiterated Canada’s sovereignty in all of his meetings. “I think I’ve been pretty clear when I was down there and here, Canada will never ever be the 51st state and Canada is not for sale and it will never be for sale.”
Mr. Ford is set to travel back to Washington on Friday, as is Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, for a meeting of the National Governors Association. He said the trip is crucial for communication and relationship-building.
“The worst thing we could do is sit back and say, ‘Let’s not bother going down there. Let’s not communicate with our largest trading partner,‘” Mr. Ford said.