Premier Mark Carney called Doug Ford “a couple of times” from Asia to ask him to pull an ad campaign blamed for the end of trade negotiations with the United States, the Ontario premier said Monday.
Carney said this weekend that he told Ford he didn’t think the province should run the ad that featured clips of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about the tariffs.
When asked Monday after question period about those comments, Ford said he did not want to divulge details of their conversations but indicated he disagreed with Carney’s characterization.
“I had a different memory of our conversation,” he said.
US President Donald Trump broke off trade talks last month, blaming the TV ads, and Ford agreed to pull them, but not before continuing to air them for a few more days, until the World Series games. That led Trump to threaten to add another 10 percent tariff on Canadian goods.
Ford said Monday that Carney, who was on an official visit to Asia, asked him more than once to remove the ads.
“He called me from Asia a couple of times and said, ‘Take down the ad,’ and I told him I wouldn’t do it until we stopped the ad on Monday and that’s exactly what we did,” Ford said.
The two politicians continue to have a “great relationship,” Ford said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government paid about $75 million to air this ad, which includes comments from former President Ronald Reagan, on American television stations, a move that has angered President Donald Trump.
Carney said Trump was “offended” by the ad and said he apologized to the president. Ford said Carney did not tell him about the apology.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not comment directly on Ford’s comments.
“The Prime Minister has addressed this issue,” a spokesperson wrote in a statement.
“As it has from the beginning, it remains focused on the federal government’s responsibility to engage directly with the U.S. administration and reach an agreement that benefits workers and businesses in both of our nations.”
Ford remains optimistic about the ad, which he says has 12.4 billion views, suggesting it is the most viewed ad “in the history of the world” and crediting it with leading to a US Senate resolution against the tariffs.
“I was on the Senate floor and because of that announcement, the Republicans lost the vote,” Ford said in the legislature.
“Four Republicans…changed sides. They talked about the ad. It’s making a huge, huge difference.”
Ontario’s original advertising campaign was to cost $75 million and last through the winter. Now that it has been withdrawn, the cost to taxpayers will be much less, but the government has not yet given a final figure.
Trade talks between Canada and the United States have not resumed, although the Canadian government has said it is ready to pick up where they left off.
