Five Canadian prime ministers, including Doug Ford of Ontario, are in Boston on Monday by the invitation of some governors of the northeast of the United States to try to forge alliances against Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Ford joins the fellow prime minister Tim Houston of Nueva Scotia, Susan Holt of New Brunswick, Rob Lantz de Pei and John Hogan de Terranova and Labrador for a day of meetings in the house of the state of Massachusetts with the governors of seven states or their delegates.
Only one of the governors scheduled to attend is Republican, Phil Scott of Vermont, so if the meeting will have an influence with Trump is an open question.
The governors and prime ministers will discuss the impacts of Trump’s tariffs and how US leaders and Canadians “can continue working together to maintain economic relations that benefit local companies and residents,” according to a press release from the host of the event, the governor of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, a Democrat.
They will begin the day with closed doors centered on opportunities to collaborate in energy, trade, tourism and manufacturing, then open the door to the media to continue their discussions in front of the cameras.
“Ford Prime Minister will advocate his vision of Fortress Am-Can, a renewed strategic alliance that converts Canada and the United States into the richest, most prosperous, safe and safer of the two countries of the planet,” said Ford spokeswoman Hannah Jensen, in a statement.
Houston says that the meeting will help with the important relationships between the prime ministers and the governors, but admits that the event is unlikely to change Trump’s position in tariffs.
“That is a president of the decision at the United States,” Houston told a Halifax press conference. “That does not mean that we cannot have positive relations with the governors and the Americans in general. I think that is alone, that is the goal.”
‘Recruit more allies’
Holt is presenting a more optimistic vision of what can be achieved by meeting with the governors.
“We would like to continue encouraging them to work through their channels and their business leaders to make the administration clear how the rates are hurting the Americans and Canadians,” Holt told a press conference in Fredericton.
She said the objective is “to transmit those messages to the people who hope they can influence the president” to leave their tariffs against Canada.
“We will continue trying to build and administer the commercial associations that matter to the new Brunswickers and the works of New Brunswickers, to continue making sure that our products are bought by the United States and that we continue to have access to what we need to grow our economy here while we recruit more allies in the fight against rates,” Holt said.
In an interview about Rosemary Barton Live, the governor of Maine Janet Mills says that the tariffs imposed by the president of the United States, Donald Trump, about Canadian imports are “only a tax.” Mills says that industries from construction to artisanal breweries are affected.
The governor of Maine, Janet Mills, says that the reluctance of Canadians to cross the border is harming tourism in their state and that tariffs are having an impact on several sectors of Maine’s economy, including agriculture, construction and breweries.
“Personally I don’t understand the rhetoric that comes out of Washington, outside the president’s mouth,” Mills told CBC’s Rosemary Barton Live Sunday.
“We want the Canadian people to know … that we do not share that hostility or that kind of rhetoric. We believe it is shameful. We want to repair any broken relationship,” said Mills.
Other governors scheduled to attend are Kathy Hochul from New York and Dan McKee of Rhode Island, both Democrats.
New Hampshire Republican governor will not attend
New Hampshire Republican governor, Kelly Ayotte and Connecticut Democratic governor, Ned Lamont, will send representatives, according to a press release from the organizers.
Ayotte is the only governor in the region who did not sign the letter inviting the ministers to the event. He supported Trump’s presidential campaign in 2024, when he ran for governor.
Daniel Schwanen, vice president of the CD Howe Institute, a group of headquarters in Toronto, says that the governors of both parties know that jobs and economic activity in their states will be negatively affected by a commercial war with Canada and that makes them natural allies of the prime ministers.
“There is a huge value in having a district based in the United States that is in accordance with Canada’s case that tariffs are mutually hurtful,” Schwanen said in an interview.
“In fact, economic realities in the field are not really very different, regardless of whether their governor is a Democrat or Republican,” he said.
Quebec Francois Legault prime minister was invited to Boston’s meeting, but will send a cabinet minister instead.
Ford has made three trips to Washington, DC so far this year, and numerous appearances in the US media to try to persuade Americans that rates damage the economy south of the border.
While the prime ministers are in Boston, Trump is in Canada, attending the G7 summit in Alberta, a high -risk meeting for all leaders, but particularly for Prime Minister Mark Carney.
