Doug Ford took to his podium on Tuesday to yet again address the people of Ontario in regards to U.S. tariffs, which unfortunately came into effect on Canadian goods at 12:01 Tuesday morning.
The premier reiterated his unrelenting stance against the move by U.S. President Donald Trump and his team and went over the various ways that Ontario will be reciprocating, a few of which Ford floated just before the same tariffs were delayed at the eleventh hour last month.
With no delays from south of the border this time around, here are the immediate courses of action that the Province is taking:
LCBO is removing U.S. products from shelves
He teased it last month, but now, it’s really happening: LCBO staff are actively withdrawing American alcohol brands from all stores provincewide as of Tuesday and are also ceasing wholesale activity for these labels to other establishments in the province.
“LCBO, the largest purchaser of alcohol in the world, will begin removing U.S. products from its store shelves and [cease] as the exclusive wholesale. American brands will no longer be available in LCBO catalog, meaning other retailers, bars and restaurants in the province will no longer be able to restock U.S. products,” Ford said.
“This is an enormous hit to the American producers. Every year, the LCBO sells nearly $1 billion worth of U.S. wine, beer, cider, seltzer and spirits, including more than 3,600 products from 35 states. As of today, every single one of these products is off the shelves.”
The LCBO’s website will be temporarily offline while the changes stock changes are made in the back end.
U.S. companies now banned from partaking in government procurement
Also starting today, Ford instated another measure he had previously threatened on what was supposed to be the eve of the tariffs last month, before they were delayed: that American companies will now be barred from competing for provincial infrastructure and other contracts.
“Every year, the province and its agencies spend about $30 billion on procurement, alongside our more than $200 billion plan to build infrastructure. U.S.-based businesses will now lose out on tens of billions of dollars in revenues, and they only have President Trump to blame,” the premier explained during Tuesday’s presser.
Doug Ford just appeared on CNN urging the American people to help ‘stop the insanity’ as tariffs begin🇨🇦https://t.co/Ri3HBMhLGG
— blogTO (@blogTO) March 4, 2025
“I’m also urging all 444 municipalities to do the same, and I’m thrilled to see some are already stepping up,” he added, citing Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown, who said Monday that his city will no longer be doing any business with any firms from south of the border.
Starlink deal nixed (again)
After some back and forth, the Province’s deal with Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet provider is again off the table as Trump’s right-hand man — who Ford pointed out was educated at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario — continues to support these debilitating levies against Canada.
“As part of this government-wide procurement ban, we’re going one step further: We’re ripping up Ontario’s contract with Starlink. It’s done. It’s gone,” Ford told constituents.
“We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country, alongside federal tariffs and the measures my fellow premiers are bringing forward [during] Team Canada’s opening response.”
The contract would have given $100 million of public funds to the tech firm.
Potential restrictions on exports
Should Trump introduce more tariffs in the weeks to come as promised, Ford is vowing to take more retaliatory steps, largely in regards to the Ontario products that the U.S. relies on most: electricity and minerals.
“We need to be ready to escalate using every tool in our toolkit, including surcharges or even outright restrictions on the critical minerals and electricity we supply to the United States, the critical minerals and electricity they depend on,” Ford warned.
“Today I’m writing to every senator, every congressman and woman, and the governors from New York State, Michigan and Minnesota, telling them that if these tariffs persist, and if the Trump administration follows through on any more tariffs, we will immediately apply a 25 per cent surcharge on the electricity we export.”
He added boldly that he “will not hesitate to shut off their power” completely if need be, and that he’s encouraging his fellow premiers to follow his lead in taking similar steps with the goods and services they offer.
Alleviating impacts
As terrifying as these times are, Ford had some word of reassurance for residents, saying he “do whatever it takes to protect you, your families and your communities” and help ease the effects of these new fees.
“We are watching the real world impacts of these tariffs, and we will be there for you,” he continued. “We will spare no expense to protect Ontario workers. We’ll retrain impacted workers for new jobs, we’ll retool companies for new customers and new markets, we’ll re-shore supply chains to bring good jobs back home, and we’ll rebuild roads, highways and bridges to keep people working.”
Doug Ford says ‘count me in’ for new solution to mitigate tariff threats https://t.co/m1AbYKtyfB
— blogTO (@blogTO) February 28, 2025
He also pointed to the ongoing work that he and his fellow premiers are engaging in to reduce internal trade barriers between provinces, and cut red tape for Canadian industry in general, especially the home building sector.
