Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he was “doing cartwheels” after the Democrats took control of the House of Representatives and the Senate in the U.S. midterm elections.
Ford said the trade war is not over, but he is buoyed by the rebuke of U.S. President Donald Trump by the American electorate.
“You ever seen a big guy like me doing cartwheels? I was jumping up and down when the results were coming in,” Premier Ford told reporters on Wednesday. “It’s very simple: the American people spoke.”
He says he has directed his cabinet to head to the United States once the new members are sworn in to build relationships to de-escalate the trade war with Trump.
“The governors have big say in the U.S., and President Trump has to start listening,” said Premier Ford. “He lost a big election last night. He lost a lot of seats… He has to start listening to the people.”
Trump has begun backpedalling following the losses, shifting blame elsewhere but also pledging to work with the Democrats.
Ford said this is a victory for Canadians and the rest of the world.
“We’re going to be down there communicating, building those relationships,” the premier said. “I can’t wait.”
Trump recently placed tariffs on Canadian garbage headed to the United States and has said he’ll lay heavy tariffs on the auto sector on Jan. 1 in addition to previously announced tariffs against the country.
“I want to emphasize, the war is not over,” Premier Ford continued. “President Trump wants to blame everyone else but himself. He says, ‘Just pretend that my name is on the ballot.’ Well, the American people listened to that, and they showed what they thought about President Trump.”
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Wednesday that while the election results were interesting, he refused to interpret them and said the new Congress won’t change the federal government’s trade agenda.
“What the new Congress might decide to do when they’re seated two months from now is an interesting discussion at a faculty club luncheon at Mount Allison University today,” LeBlanc said.
“That’s not going to change the work that we have to do in the next two weeks. The American Congress will act in the interests of the American Congress. Our work will be focused on what we can do here at home.”
With files from Lucas Casaletto of CityNews
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