Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford made his first Ontario campaign appearance in over a week on Thursday, holding an event with the PC premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston.
The two presented their solutions for Canada’s interprovincial trade barriers, which have come into sharp focus under the threat of 25 per cent tariffs from the United States.
“I have a medical device company back home that says they would love to sell across Canada, but they don’t have the time or energy to deal with the painful nuances of 13 different jurisdictions; in the U.S. they deal with one for the whole country,” Houston said.
“So stop and think about that: it’s easier to sell in another country than in another province or territory.”
Houston called a snap election at then end of last year in Nova Scotia and won a fresh majority.
Ford unveiled a series of promises. He said — if re-elected — he would help to reduce those trade barriers and reduce Ontario’s reliance on an increasingly hostile U.S. administration.
The plan includes a promise to streamline interprovincial qualifications to make it easier for workers to move, remove various rules that make it difficult for alcohol to be sold province-to-province and boost Venture Ontario’s funding by $50 million.
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Other promises include advocacy to the federal government on a range of issues that are not under provincial jurisdiction, like defence spending and oil pipelines.
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The appearance alongside Houston continues a campaign where the Progressive Conservative Party has blurred the lines between Ford’s campaigning role as PC party leader and his duties as premier of a caretaker government until election day.
Houston repeatedly referred to Ford as “premier” during the election campaign stop, discussing trade barriers, which are unlikely to be something that can be addressed until after election day.
The PCs found themselves in hot water last week after releasing a commercial with party branding featuring Ford’s trip to Washington, D.C., which was partially taxpayer-funded.
That commercial was edited to remove the party branding shortly after it was published but not before the NDP and Liberals submitted complaints to both the province’s integrity commissioner and Elections Ontario.
Ford will be in Washington again on Friday.
Elsewhere, Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie gave a speech to the Canadian Club in Toronto.
In her speech, she said a Liberal government would cover mental health care under the Ontario Health Insurance Plan, telling the Bay Street audience that productivity is directly related to mental health in their companies’ workforces.
Crombie has made health care a central part of her campaign, promising to get every Ontarian a family doctor within four years and bring in a centralized referral system.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles was also in Toronto to cast her vote at a quiet advanced polling location.
She said the early election in the winter was called to depress turnout and benefit her Progressive Conservative rivals.
“I think Doug Ford is counting on that, his whole plan all along was to hold this election in the winter, a snap election, and hope nobody would show up — and I think he’s wrong,” Stiles said.
“I think people are going to show up, I think they’re going to turn out because this is an important election and people know their vote has the power to change things.”
Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner was in Kitchener campaigning for his party’s second-ever seat, one it picked up during a recent byelection.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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