Doug Ford says Mark Carney and his chief of staff knew about Ontario anti-tariff ad before it aired
Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Monday that Prime Minister Mark Carney, along with his chief of staff, watched the province’s anti-tariff television ad featuring Ronald Reagan before it first aired and later drew the retributive ire of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“They both saw it and we moved forward on it,” the Ontario premier told reporters at Queen’s Park, where he defended the quotes from the late former U.S. president that were use in the 60- and 30-second versions of the ad.
“We achieved our goal. As we say, mission accomplished, it was done. They’re talking about it in the U.S. and they weren’t talking about it before I put the ad on. So I’m glad Ronald Reagan was a free trader.”
The goal, he said, was to bring attention to the absence of certain Ontario sectors, chiefly its auto sector, from ongoing Canada-U.S. trade negotiations. The others at risk in a trade deal that favours the U.S., he said, are the steel, manufacturing and life science industries.
“My intention was never to poke the president in the eye,” Ford said. “My intention was to inform the American people.”
At a separate press conference Monday, when asked if the federal government was kept abreast of plans for the ad, Ontario Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy said, “sure, there was lots of conversations between the prime minister and Premier Ford.”
Last Thursday night, Trump labelled the $75-million ad campaign “fake” in a Truth Social post and said “all trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated.”
After speaking with Carney on Friday, Ford posted on X that the commercial — which had already been airing in the U.S. since Oct. 14, including during Major League Baseball playoff broadcasts — would be pulled from U.S. stations, but not until it aired during the first two games of the World Series.
Before Game 2 on Saturday evening, Trump announced an additional 10 per cent tariff on Canada “over and above what they are paying now.” When asked by reporters on Monday, Trump did not say when the increase would take effect.
( @realDonaldTrump - Truth Social Post )
— Fan Donald J. Trump ???????? TRUTH POSTS (@TruthTrumpPosts) October 25, 2025
( Donald J. Trump - Oct 25, 2025, 4:30 PM ET )
Canada was caught, red handed, putting up a fraudulent advertisement on Ronald Reagan’s Speech on Tariffs. The Reagan Foundation said that they, “created an ad campaign using selective audio… pic.twitter.com/x0MIDmkMMc
Trump said Monday he doesn’t plan on meeting with Carney “for a while.”
“I don’t care whether it’s provincial or Canada itself. They all knew exactly what the ad was. The prime minister knew. Everybody knew. The prime minister knew what the ad was,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, according to the Toronto Star.
Carney, who’s in Malaysia for the Association of Southeast Nations meetings, said “very detailed, very specific, very comprehensive” discussions with the U.S. were ongoing “up until the point of those ads running.”
Canada, he said, stands by the progress made and is ready to resume talks.
Asked if he feels responsible for the latest levy on Canada, Ford noted that Trump has yet to act on his threat.
“He’s threatened a lot, but we’ll see what comes down the road,” he said Monday.
As for the ads’ effectiveness, during question period in the legislature on Monday, where Ford was also called on to defend them, he said they generated “$300 to $400 million of earned media” and “over one billion impressions” globally.
“Do you know why President Trump’s so upset right now? Because it was effective. It was working. It woke up the whole country,” Ford told reporters outside the legislature.
He also noted they would only spend a “fraction” of the anticipated $75 million because the now-paused ad buy had been scheduled to run through February.
Ford also said Carney hasn’t asked him to stop speaking out against Trump. He feels all premiers play a role and said the time has where they can “get a little more communication off the federal government and listen to the concerns of each province.”
Whereas Manitoba’s Wab Kinew and B.C.’s David Eby have supported Ontario’s initiative, with the latter promising the province’s own ads in a battle against U.S. tariffs on softwood lumber, Alberta’s Danielle Smith said on Monday that she was glad to see the ads pulled.
President Trump’s tariffs go against Ronald Reagan’s legacy.
— Wab Kinew (@WabKinew) October 24, 2025
Doug Ford’s ads are good — keep them on TV ???????? #elbowsup pic.twitter.com/wpBSYWWKwc
But she also lamented that it seemed like talks were now “back at square zero.”
“I think that we all just have to be mindful that the U.S. administration is unpredictable, and I think that the relationship building that the prime minister is doing should continue,” she told reporters. “I wish him well on that, and I hope that very soon we’ll be able to get back to where we started, so that we can move forward on some agreements.”
For his part, Ford said earlier Monday that Smith had no appreciation for the ads because Alberta’s key sector wasn’t in danger from American protectionism.
“She has a commodity called oil that Americans need and want, so she’s going to be fine,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Ford is also unbothered by threats of legal action from the Ronald Reagan Foundation, which said last week that it was exploring options regarding unauthorized use and editing of its namesake’s 1987 radio address. It also alleged the ad “misrepresents” Reagan’s message.
Ford countered, saying the government executed its due diligence to ensure the content was in the open domain, making it free for such use.
“They can do whatever they want, but they’re not going to win because it’s very clear,” he said. “They know it, I know it.”
Ford said there are no plans for further tariff or trade-related ad campaigns at this time.
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