Ontario leader will call election to fight Trump's threatened tariffs

TORONTO (AP) — The leader of Ontario, Canada's most populous province, said Friday that he would call an early election, because he says he needs a mandate to fight U.S. President Donald Trump's threatened tariffs.

Premier Doug Ford of the Progressive Conservative Party said that he planned to make the announcement on Wednesday. The move would send Ontarians to the polls on Feb. 27, more than a year before the June 2026 fixed election date. Ford already has a large majority government.

“We need a mandate from the people to fight against Donald Trump’s tariffs," Ford said.

Ford, who is the equivalent of a U.S. state governor, said that Ontario could lose upwards of 500,000 jobs should Trump follow through on his 25% tariff threat.

Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday that he still plans to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico at that rate starting as soon as Feb. 1. Trump previously threatened to establish sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he took office. But the tariffs weren’t applied on Monday, the day he took office.

Ford has said there would be a dollar-for-dollar tariff retaliation on American goods entering Canada. He has also said that if Trump applies tariffs, he would instruct Ontario’s liquor control board to pull all American-made alcohol from shelves.

Ford said that his government would spend billions to support the economy if tariffs come. Ontario is Canada’s manufacturing and automobile hub.

“We will do tens of billions of dollars. It’s no different than the pandemic. We will secure livelihoods,” Ford said. “I will do whatever it takes to protect the people of Ontario."

He also said that "we need the largest mandate in Ontario’s history.”

Trump said again on Friday that Canada can avoid tariffs if it becomes the 51st state. He incorrectly said that the U.S. has a $200 billion deficit with its major trading partner. He also said Canadians would get a tax cut and better health coverage if they became Americans.

“The tariffs are going to make our country rich. We’re going to be a very rich, rich country very soon,” Trump told reporters in North Carolina.

“The word tariffs is one of the most beautiful words in the dictionary.”

Opposition parties accuse Ford of calling an early election before any potential charges emerge from a police investigation into his now-scrapped plan to develop lands under environmental protection.

Nelson Wiseman, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto, said that Ford risks being accused of calling an unwarranted election, just a couple of years after having won a large mandate.

“It is a foolish strategy. People look to the federal government on the Trump tariff issue, not to the provinces in the coming trade challenges,” Wiseman said.