A prorogued Parliament and snap provincial election have somehow become the least of Ontario’s worries as residents of the province and country at large look ahead to the potentially devastating tariffs that will be implemented at the U.S. border in just a day’s time.
The federal, provincial and municipal governments are all in fervent damage control mode, announcing various steps to help band Canada together and support our own economy.
Premier Doug Ford has been one of the most outspoken against President Donald Trump’s moves against what has been the U.S.’s “closest friend and treasured ally since 1867,” brandishing his now-famous “Canada is not for sale” hat and symbolically feeding a sign reading “tariffs” into a crushing machine at a press conference over the weekend.
Ford reiterated his stance on the eve of the levies coming into effect, speaking in Etobicoke Monday morning to say he is “so disappointed” in Trump for “walking away from a trading relationship that has for decades made life better for workers on both sides of the border.”
“Canada has no choice but to hit back, and hit back hard,” he said. “As Premier of Ontario, the federal government has my full support for a strong and forceful response.”
At the provincial level, Ford’s team has outlined what that response, coming in the form of funding, will look like.
An eight-point plan to protect Ontario businesses and their workers, released Monday, includes provincial tax breaks for businesses, special assistance for border areas impacted more severely by the tariffs, an increased LCBO wholesale discount to help bars and restaurants, increases to the Invest Ontario fund and Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit, and more.
This is in addition to removing all American products from LCBO shelves, cancelling the Province’s $100 million deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink and banning U.S. companies from all other provincial contracts, plus the retaliatory tariffs and other measures announced by the feds and the City of Toronto.
The premier did admit today, though, that despite all efforts, “there’s no sugar coating it: the coming days and weeks will be incredibly difficult. Trump’s tariffs are going to devastate our economy and will put up to 450,000 jobs at risk from every sector in every region. No one will be immune, everyone will feel the impact.”
But, he vowed to protect Ontario and invest whatever is necessary to mitigate the blow, starting with the full list of subsidies and supports released on the Ontario Progressive Conservative campaign page today, which reads as follows:
- $10 billion in cash-flow support for Ontario employers through a six-month deferral of provincially administered taxes on Ontario businesses.
- $3 billion in payroll tax and premium relief for small businesses.
- $120 million to support approximately 18,000 bars and restaurants by increasing the LCBO wholesale discount from 10 per cent to 15 per cent.
- $40 million for a new Trade-Impacted Communities Program to support municipalities and communities that face major economic disruption stemming from new tariffs.
- $300 million to expand the Ontario Made Manufacturing Investment Tax Credit to support more businesses that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment that are used for manufacturing and processing in Ontario, including investments to retool and onshore supply chains.
- $600 million for the Invest Ontario Fund so Ontario can continue attracting investments that create jobs in key sectors, including advanced manufacturing, life sciences and technology.
- Leveraging Ontario’s nearly $30 billion in annual provincial procurement, in addition to the $200 billion in Ontario’s plan to build, to prioritize Ontario steel, forestry products and other inputs for provincial infrastructure projects, purchase Ontario-made vehicles for government use and help local innovators access more government procurement opportunities. We will also ask and encourage municipalities to do the same in order to protect Ontario jobs and create new opportunities for Ontario and Canadian workers and businesses through their procurements.
- Urging the federal government to fairly and quickly distribute retaliatory tariff revenue to impacted workers and businesses.
