Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is accusing Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford of not having a plan as Canada gears up for a trade war with the United States.
Crombie said she supports Ford’s decision to remove American products from LCBO shelves on Tuesday, when U.S. President Donald Trump’s promised 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods are slated to come into effect.
“He’s going to remove American brands off the shelf of the LCBO. OK, fine, great. I support that. Where’s the rest of the plan? Where’s the stimulus for our industries?” Crombie said at a campaign stop in Ottawa.
“People are afraid. People are angry. They’re worried about paying rent and putting food on their table today, and now they’re worried about losing their job too. He knew this threat was coming.”
The Liberal leader said Ford hasn’t done enough to diversify Ontario’s economy and accused him of abandoning the province during a major crisis by triggering the snap Feb. 27 vote and focusing on his re-election campaign.
She offered few specifics, however, on how she would handle the tariff response differently.
Like Ford, Crombie said she would work closely with the federal government. She added that it’s time to knock down interprovincial trade barriers — something the incumbent premier has also advocated for.
“There’s been so many obstacles, and that’s an easy one,” said Crombie.
“I bet it’s going to be fixed pretty quick now that we’re in this tariff war with the United States, but that’s something that’s long overdue and really the premiers need to sit down and hammer that out.”
She also echoed her previous call for Ontario to rip up its $100-million deal with Starlink, a company owned by Trump ally Elon Musk.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles, who did not have any public events on her schedule on Sunday, issued her own statement criticizing Ford’s government for inking the deal, which would add high-speed internet access in northern Ontario.
“At a time with Donald Trump and his billionaire friends are threatening Canadian livelihoods, Doug Ford handed over a multi-million dollar deal to Elon Musk’s Starlink,” she said. “It’s time to find a Canadian-made solution.”
She added in a subsequent statement that she supports removing American products from the LCBO and that a “Buy Ontario procurement strategy” is needed.
The news that Trump is making good on his tariff threat has stymied opposition attempts to put other issues — like access to family doctors, which Crombie raised in front of the Montfort Hospital on Sunday — at the forefront of the election campaign.
Ford justified calling the election, which is happening nearly a year and a half ahead of schedule, by saying he needs a strong mandate from Ontarians to spend tens of billions of dollars on economic stimulus in response to tariffs.
Crombie and Stiles have both said his majority government already had the mandate it needed to steer the province, and they would have supported stimulus measures. They have raised concerns about what moves he can make during an election campaign.
Ford insisted on Saturday that he can still act as sitting premier while campaigning. His two trips to Washington, D.C., this month will be paid for by the PC Party, he said.
He sidestepped questions about whether his caretaker government would be able to respond fulsomely to the tariffs. But he has said it’s the electorate’s decision whether to move forward with his proposed measures, including a $22-billion infrastructure plan that he said would go ahead regardless of U.S. policy.
Ford did not have any scheduled campaign events on Sunday, but started the day with his pledge to stop selling some $1 billion a year worth of U.S. products at LCBO.
Other provinces, including British Columbia, Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador, are also pulling liquor from south of the border off the shelves.
American alcohol products will be subject to retaliatory 25 per cent tariffs, part of a lengthy list published by the federal government on Sunday.
— With files from David Baxter in Ottawa.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 2, 2025.
