OTTAWA – A clear message, addressed to Trump, via-Musk: Ontario Premier Doug Ford has announced today that the Province he leads will dissolve its $100 million deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink, in light of the entry into force of 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods in entry into the USA, imposed by the President of the United States, Donald Trump (updating: tariffs will be paused for at least 30 days, after the call Trump-Trudeau in the late afternoon) .
Ford said the government is also banning other American companies from entering into provincial contracts until the tariffs are reversed. “This is just one step, and there are many more to come” the premier said today during a campaign-stop in Etobicoke at the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association (OPFFA) headquarters. ““You know, that’s a small, small drop in the bucket, the $100 million. It sends a message to President Trump, but there’s many more” Ford said.
In a statement released earlier, the premier himself said that Ontario will not do business with “people determined to destroy” the provincial economy, referring to the agreement with Starlink that was signed in November and intended to guarantee the Internet access to 15,000 people in rural communities across the province, a service for which Ford will now identify a “national option” although this could take up to two years due to Canada’s lack of infrastructure.
As is well known, the owner of Starlink, Elon Musk, heads Trump’s new Department for Government Efficiency (DOGE): Ford’s move is therefore a clear message to Trump. And the premier also assured that Ontario has not “paid a cent” to Starlink and stated that if Musk takes the Province to court to cancel the agreement, his government is ready for a legal battle. “We didn’t violate the rules of our agreement, the USMCA agreement (United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), they did it. I never believe in starting a fight, but I believe in winning the fight” Ford said.
And, as we said, this is only the first move. With the next ones, Ford will hit all the other sectors in which American companies are involved in some way. Ontario and its agencies spend $30 billion each year on public procurement, money that Ford says U.S.-based businesses will lose in the trade war. “I don’t care if we’re talking about crackers or toothpicks: we’ll do everything we can to make them ourselves or, if we don’t have them, to buy them from Ontario companies”.
The situation, therefore, has changed radically since Ford expressed satisfaction with the re-election of Trump, a conservative like him. “It’s been a disaster. I’d never support that guy in my entire life. He goes up and just stabs you right in the heart. Forget that” Ford said today.
Ford’s change of direction was applauded by the Ontario Liberal leader, Bonnie Crombie, who had already invited Ford to terminate the contract with Starlink, calling it a “sweetheart deal” (due to the link between Musk and Trump). “We’re happy Doug has finally listened to Bonnie and ripped up the bad Starlink deal and is finally putting Ontario first” a spokesperson said in a statement issued after Ford’s announcement. “But we can’t help but wonder: What other shady deals has he signed with the super-rich?”.
Amid the trade war, Ontarians will head to the polls in an early election on February 27. Crombie, together with NDP leader Marit Stiles and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner, called the early elections “useless”. But for Ford, who called the elections, it is important to have “a stronger mandate”. And what if, also due to “the Trump effect”, this challenge of his turned into a boomerang?
In the pic above, Premier Doug Ford during his speech today at the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association (OPFFA) in Etobicoke: screenshot from the video published on the Ontario PC Party YouTube channel (here below)
