The Insatiable Political Ambitions of Douglas R. Ford

Is Ontario's pugnacious premier charting a course for Ottawa? He definitely isn't not considering a run for prime minister. A long, hard look behind the curtain

- Katrina Onstad

DONALD TRUMP'S OBSESSION with making Canada the 51st state can be traced to an offhand comment around a white linen-draped table at Mar-a-Lago last November. Trump had been mouthing off on Truth Social about imposing tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian and Mexican goods unless both countries cracked down on fentanyl and illegal immigration. When Justin Trudeau called Trump to address the threat and landed an impromptu invitation for dinner, it seemed like a coup: Canada was suddenly at the front of the line to get in good with the mercurial president-elect. At some point during the meal, the mood, and maybe the game, changed. Trump was banging his tariff drum, and Trudeau warned that if he slapped a tariff on Canada, he would destroy the country's economy. This caught Trump's ear. If Canada can't survive without the US, he quipped, maybe it should become the 51st state.

In the weeks that followed, Trump began to take the idea seriously. He talked ad nauseam about annexing Canada and imposing tariffs, raising eyebrows and ire north of the 49th. When Trudeau announced his resignation in January and exited stage left, he created a leadership vacuum. Canadians wanted someone, anyone, to do something. Enter Doug Ford, under the media-anointed nickname Captain Canada. On March 10, the premier held a press conference during which he seemed to be expressing not just Ontario's anger but all of Canada's. He'd already made threats earlier in the month: “If they want to try to annihilate Ontario, I will do anything, including cutting off their energy, with a smile on my face.” Now he followed through, announcing retaliatory measures that included a 25 per cent surcharge on the electricity Ontario exports to Michigan, Minnesota and New York. The move would cost residents in those states up to $400,000 per day.