So much for Doug Ford‘s Trump card.
Ford struggled Tuesday to explain why he wanted Donald Trump to win the U.S. presidential election after being caught on a hot mic in a gaffe that has jolted the Ontario campaign.
It was an embarrassing setback for the Progressive Conservative leader, who has framed the snap Feb. 27 vote as a referendum on who could best deal with Trump’s threatened 25 per cent tariffs against Canada.
Complaining to reporters in Ottawa that “you guys are obsessed with that,” Ford was repeatedly pressed about the hot mic admission that he had hoped the Republican Trump would beat Democrat Kamala Harris last November.
“On election day, was I happy this guy won? One hundred per cent I was. Then the guy pulled out the knife and f—-ing yanked it in me,” the Tory leader said Monday in Etobicoke, making a stabbing motion with his hand.
The following day, Ford was forced to do damage control for his self-inflicted wound.
“Well, you know something, I always believe in working with anyone,” he said in Ottawa, where he promised Queen’s Park would upload OC Transpo’s troubled LRT line.
“On the hot mic, yeah, he makes me swear. I think he makes a lot of people swear in this country,” Ford acknowledged, insisting he believed the president would somehow be less provocative in his second term.
Trump touted tariffs during the recent American campaign in which he also called the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol “a day of love,” even though the FBI dubbed it domestic terrorism that threatened the peaceful transfer of power.
“I thought it would be a little different, a little change, but obviously he decided to pull the knife out and stab us,” Ford said on the shop floor of a door company.
His main rivals pounced on his Monday comments made to Tory candidates Christine Hogarth and David Piccini and several members of the Ontario Professional Fire Fighters Association.
Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie released a 60-second ad to highlight the PC leader’s apparent hypocrisy by repeatedly playing the clip: “Was I happy this guy won? One hundred per cent I was.”
“Doug Ford just said he was happy Donald Trump won the election. Happy the guy who campaigned on a trade war with Canada became president?” intones a female narrator against footage of Trump boasting “the tariff will be substantial in some cases” and that he is “a tariff man standing on a tariff platform.”
“He was happy? Was he happy Canadians might lose their jobs? Was he happy about the threat of Canada becoming a 51st state?” continues the announcer.
“Or does he just care so little about the people of this province … that he saw an attack on Ontario as an opportunity for himself. What else does he say when he thinks you’re not listening?”
Speaking to the Star’s Martin Regg Cohn at Toronto Metropolitan University’s Democracy Forum, Crombie said Ford’s support for Trump was revealing, given that Trump was his rationale for an “unnecessary” $189-million election 15 months before Ontario’s next scheduled general election in June 2026.
“He used that as an excuse to call an election. He said basically said so himself … in his hot mic moment,” the Liberal leader told Cohn, predicting it could be a “turning point.”
“I don’t think it’s a one-day wonder. There are always these moments in a campaign that are kind of pivot points … that are revealing about a person’s character,” she said, noting Trump “threatened our economy.”
In Ottawa, New Democratic Leader Marit Stiles said “it doesn’t surprise me at all” that Ford would say he preferred Trump.
“This is who Doug Ford is. He says one thing when he’s out in front of the microphones … and he says another one behind closed doors,” said Stiles, as she highlighted her education plan that includes a universal school food program.
“It’s a little bit sad, you know, that Doug Ford clearly is a big fan of Donald Trump, but Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be aware of who Doug Ford is,” she said.
Public-opinion research has suggested Canadians overwhelmingly preferred Harris over Trump last fall.
Pollara Strategic Insights found 62 per cent of respondents had positive feelings about Harris with only 18 per cent having negative feelings toward the then-vice-president.
The firm found 66 per cent had negative feelings about Trump with 20 per cent having positive feelings toward him.
Ford, whose campaign slogan is “Protect Ontario,” has styled himself as the anti-Trump, sporting a blue hat that reads “Canada Is Not For Sale” to counter the president’s trademark red cap emblazoned with “Make America Great Again.”
On Monday, Trump paused his threatened 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods until at least next month, meaning the levies will not be in place before Ontarians vote.
