Ontario Premier Doug Ford, chair of the Council of the Federation, speaks during a press conference with the premiers of Canada in Washington, on Feb. 12.Craig Hudson/Reuters
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles is asking the province’s Integrity Commissioner to investigate Doug Ford’s trip to Washington this week, accusing the Progressive Conservative Leader of using the visit for partisan purposes during the provincial election campaign.
Mr. Ford was in Washington alongside his fellow premiers to meet with American lawmakers in a bid to prevent U.S. President Donald Trump’s punishing tariffs. Mr. Ford was travelling in his capacity as premier and chair of the Council of the Federation, the group that represents the 13 provincial and territorial leaders.
The visit culminated Wednesday in a meeting with two senior White House officials – deputy chief of staff James Blair and Sergio Gor, director of the Presidential Personnel Office – which the premiers described as frank and constructive.
B.C. Premier David Eby also said the premiers made it clear that Canada would never become the 51st state, as Mr. Trump has repeatedly suggested. However, Mr. Blair later posted on social media site X that the two officials “never agreed that Canada would not be the 51st state,” but that they would share Mr. Eby’s comments.
On Thursday, Mr. Ford’s X account posted a video with footage from his trip to Washington that ended with the PC party logo and slogan “Protect Ontario.” The video was later taken down and reposted without the campaign branding.
In a letter sent to Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake on Thursday, Ms. Stiles said Mr. Ford’s video promotes “a clearly partisan political message encouraging Ontarians to vote for the PC Party.” She also suggested Mr. Ford violated the “caretaker” convention on the trip, which generally restricts government business to urgent matters during the writ period. Ontarians go to the polls Feb. 27.
“I am asking that you review the activities of this trip to Washington to determine if taxpayer dollars were put to use in service of the personal or partisan gain of Doug Ford, and if the caretaker principles were violated,” Ms. Stiles wrote.
Michelle Renaud, a spokesperson for the office of the Integrity Commissioner, said the office’s “general position” is that trade disputes and the imposition of tariffs “constitute an urgent matter in the public interest” and that attending events “related to this issue can be undertaken by members of cabinet, provided that the activities are not then used for partisan purposes.”
Ms. Stiles also said she would be complaining to Elections Ontario.
Speaking to reporters in Sudbury on Thursday, Ms. Stiles said the fact that Mr. Ford took down his video and reposted it is a “sure sign of guilt.”
“The Integrity Commissioner has been very clear about this, they were not to use that event for partisan purposes. He turned around and did it right away,” she said.
Ivana Yelich, a spokeswoman for Mr. Ford’s campaign, defended the video.
“Footage of the Premier being the Premier is routinely used in political social content,” she said in a statement.
“However, out of an abundance of caution, the video was reposted without campaign branding.”
Ms. Yelich also said previously that the PC party paid for Mr. Ford’s travel to Washington, as well as for the political staff accompanying him, including the use of a private charter plane.
Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie on Thursday also criticized Mr. Ford for playing “fast and loose with the rules” and said the visit was “not very successful.”
“This looks like a photo-op opportunity. I can go stand over at the White House and get my picture done as well,” Ms. Crombie told reporters at a campaign stop in Elmvale, Ont.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew, who was among the 11 premiers in the White House meeting, told reporters Thursday that it was an important part of relationship-building with Trump officials.
“Keeping things at a high level, I can tell you, in this meeting, I talked about energy, our baseload power, hydro and electricity exports that we have in Manitoba that are such a great economic driver that we have. I touched on agriculture, I touched on the jobs,” Mr. Kinew said.
He also said he met with Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, and had a “brief conversation” with Trump ally and tech mogul Elon Musk.
“We didn’t really have a scheduled meeting with him,” Mr. Kinew said of the Musk encounter. “It was just a few of my colleagues and I bumped into him while we were at the White House.”