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Snow plows rumbled and salt vehicles spewed de-icing pellets onto Toronto’s streets, barely seen beneath two toes of snow. A stocky man brandished a comically small purple shovel as he helped dig out a automotive trapped at an intersection.
The serving to hand was offered 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 house.
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 executed.
Mr. Ford has recently been main the cost towards a distinct form of storm that has rolled into Canada: President Trump’s threats to the nation’s economic system and his need 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 america and has responded with fury.
“It’s like a member of the family stabbing you proper within the coronary heart,” Mr. Ford advised 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 among the largest consumers 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 mentioned 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 techniques have caught Mr. Trump’s consideration.
“There’s a really sturdy man in Canada,” Mr. Trump advised reporters final week, referring to Mr. Ford, who retreated on the surcharge after talking with Trump administration officers who supplied to satisfy their Canadian counterparts to debate the tariff standoff.
Mr. Ford, the chief of the Progressive Conservative Occasion 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 another round of tariffs on April 2. Canada has already retaliated towards earlier tariffs with levies on $20.5 billion value of U.S. items.
Tariffs may push Canada’s economic system right into a recession, and already a handful of Canadian metallic and manufacturing firms have introduced dozens of layoffs in response to the commerce warfare.
“If we go right into a recession, it’s self-made by one particular person,” Mr. Ford mentioned throughout an interview for American tv, the place he has change into an everyday presence on Fox Information and MSNBC, amongst different networks. “It’s known as President Trump’s recession.”
Ontario has spent hundreds of thousands in promoting {dollars} on commercials broadcast to an American viewers highlighting the ties between the 2 international locations and warning of the ache that tariffs on Canada would trigger to their pocketbooks.
Canada has lengthy seen itself as being in america’ shadow, however Mr. Trump’s aggressive marketing campaign, together with fixed grievances that Canada takes monetary benefit of america, has ignited a newfound sense of delight and a recognition of its position on the world stage.
“I’m feeling extremely patriotic, extremely pushed to guard what I do know we’ve,” mentioned Arlene Dickinson, a Canadian investor, tv character and member of a federal commerce advisory group.
She credit Mr. Ford for loudly projecting that sentiment.
“He hasn’t wavered,” Ms. Dickinson mentioned. “He hasn’t put particular person pursuits forward of the entire nation’s pursuits.”
The commerce warfare 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 can pit his occasion, the Liberals, towards the Conservatives.
With Canada’s prime political management place in transition, Mr. Ford has been seen as a stand-in consultant for the nation. He capitalized on his recognition 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, mentioned speeding the Ontario election helped Mr. Ford hold the momentum and eyes on him.
“He did that exactly to stop the narrative from shifting wherever else,” Mr. Pilon mentioned.
Earlier than becoming Ontario’s premier in 2018, Mr. Ford was elected in 2010 to the Toronto Metropolis Council, bolstered by voters referred to as “Ford Nation” who had additionally supported Mr. Ford’s brother, Rob Ford. He was a former Toronto mayor who died from cancer in 2016 and whose turbulent political profession ended after he confessed to smoking crack cocaine.
Mr. Ford’s high-profile position in Canada’s standoff with america has blurred a few of the controversies dogging him again house, together with a plan to transform waterfront parkland in Toronto into a spa.
The authorities are additionally investigating opaque real estate deals brokered by his authorities to make tracts of environmentally protected land out there to builders.
And he has confronted backlash over his plan to deal with Toronto’s infamous site visitors issues by tearing out common bike lanes.
However Mr. Ford stays sought out for his ideas on Canada’s essential 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 mentioned. “Canada just isn’t on the market. However isn’t it good that somebody thinks we’ve the best nation on this planet?”
