Ontario Premier Doug Ford escalated his criticism of the federal government’s electric‑vehicle deal with China on Wednesday, saying he is now officially calling on Canadians to boycott Chinese‑made EVs — the strongest language he has used to date as tensions with Prime Minister Mark Carney continue to rise.
Speaking at Queen’s Park, Ford said the federal agreement allowing up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into Canada at a sharply reduced tariff rate poses a direct threat to Ontario autoworkers and the province’s growing EV manufacturing sector.
“That is exactly what I am saying,” Ford said. “Boycott the Chinese EV vehicles. Support companies that are building vehicles here.”
The premier has repeatedly condemned the deal since it was announced last week, but Wednesday marked the first time he explicitly urged consumers to reject the vehicles outright.
“It’s a Team Canada approach. We’ve got to stick together… Toyota builds 500,000 cars, and Stellantis is building, and GM, and so on and so forth. Support the companies that support us,” Ford continued. “It doesn’t have to be the exact product, but at least if we’re supporting them, they’re going to stay in Ontario.”
Ford has been one of the most vocal critics of the federal agreement, which slashes tariffs on Chinese EVs from 100 per cent to 6.1 per cent in exchange for China reducing duties on Canadian agricultural products. He has argued the deal gives Chinese automakers a foothold in Canada without guaranteeing reciprocal investment in the domestic auto sector.
Flavio Volpe, president of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, said the intent behind the 100 per cent tariffs was to give Canada’s EV investments a chance to succeed before more Chinese vehicles poured into the country, and this deal puts the domestic market on shakier ground.
“The concession is directly to the market prospects of the companies that we’re trying to bolster, at a time when we’re under unprecedented pressure,” he said.
“Fifty-thousand cars is about a shift at an auto plant, and a shift is 1,000 workers. It might be 5,000 supplier workers. So the challenge now is, if they’re inside the gate, what are we going to do to bolster the capabilities of Canadian suppliers with hundreds of millions of dollars of capital at risk?”
Fight of our lives
Carney has said the deal is an opportunity for Ontario, as there is interest in Chinese companies producing “affordable” electric vehicles in Canada. That interest, however, comes with no guarantees, said Lana Payne, national Unifor president.
“Given China’s massive, and I say massive, overcapacity in EV production, there is little reason for those companies to establish real and meaningful manufacturing operations in our country,” she said.
“As of today, we have given market access without guarantees or any real commitments, and even if investment were to materialize, experience in other parts of the world shows that core supply chain remains in China, supported by heavy state subsidies, as Flavio said, very, very low wages and suspect labour conditions, while parts are shipped in for a final assembly.”
The officials and Ford called on the federal government to step up with measures that will boost the domestic auto industry’s competitiveness, such as lowering the cost of investing in plants, machinery and research and development.
“We are in the fight of our lives here fending off Trump’s tariffs, and that fight just got a little harder,” Payne said.
“We must collectively come together to stabilize and protect the auto sector we have so we can actually have a future one.”
Ford expected a heads-up from Carney
Earlier this week, Ford also raised national‑security concerns, claiming Chinese‑made EVs could act as “spy vehicles” capable of listening to Canadians’ phone calls — a comparison he described as “Huawei 2.0.”
“When you get on your cellphone, it’s the Chinese that are going to be listening to your telephone conversation,” Ford said Monday, drawing parallels to Canada’s 2022 ban on Huawei equipment in 5G networks.
The premier has also expressed frustration that Carney did not consult him before finalizing the agreement during his recent trip to China. Ford said the two have not spoken since, telling reporters he expected at least a “heads‑up” from the prime minister before the deal was announced.
“The prime minister knows my number,” Ford said earlier this week. “I thought we had a good enough relationship that he would give me a quick text or a little bit of communication. That never happened.”
Ford said his call for a boycott is aimed at sending a message to both Ottawa and Beijing that Canadians will not support policies that threaten domestic industry.
“Buy North American. Buy Canadian. Support our workers,” he said.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report
