Ford says Carney asked him to remove anti-tariff ad early ‘a couple of times’

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Prime Minister Mark Carney called him from his trip to Asia “a couple of times” to ask him to immediately pull his anti-tariff commercial, after it led to a breakdown in U.S.-Canada trade talks.

Carney said this weekend he told Ford not to run the $75-million ad campaign, which quoted former president Ronald Reagan, and apologized to U.S. President Donald Trump for its airing.

Ford indicated on Monday that Carney had made it clear to him he wanted the commercial pulled as quickly as possible, but refused to get into the details of their conversation.

“I’m not going to go back and forth and (I) have a different record of recollection of our conversation,” Ford said. “People don’t need that, they want to move forward to get a deal to protect jobs and protect the economy of Ontario and of Canada.”

Ford launched the commercial in mid-October, saying the ad was “not nasty” and “actually very factual,” earmarking $75 million in taxpayer money to run it on Fox, NBC, ESPN and CBS, among other networks. A week later, Trump took issue with the commercial and ended trade talks with Canada.

Initially, the Ford government appeared to go into lockdown over the development, keeping the premier out of the public eye and cancelling ministers’ appearances. But a few days later, a defiant Ford defended the commercial as “the most successful ad in the history of North America.”

Over the weekend, Carney said he had apologized for the commercial and told reporters he told Ford he shouldn’t have run it in the first place. Ford admitted Carney had asked him to pull it earlier than he did, and he refused.

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Still, Ford said he remained proud of the commercial and continued to defend it. On Monday, he upgraded his praise of the campaign to the most successful commercial in the history of the “world.”

The premier said Carney wasn’t angry with him when he told him to pull the commercial in an attempt to restart the trade talks.

“He wasn’t angry at all,” Ford said. “I fully understand the position he’s in; he’s trying to talk to the president, but the president was going to give us a terrible deal…. I’ll tell you what, I’d never apologize to Donald Trump. Donald Trump’s trying to destroy our province, destroy our country.”

The prime minister and premier continue to have a “great relationship,” Ford said.

Carney said Trump was “offended” by the ad and that he apologized to the president. Ford said Carney did not give him a heads-up about the apology.

— with a file from The Canadian Press

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