Progressive Conservative Party Leader Doug Ford is ending the second week of the election campaign in Washington D.C. on a trip his rivals have sharply criticized, while the Liberals, NDP and Greens continue on the hustings in Ontario.
On Tuesday, Ford began a two-day trip to Washington D.C., largely paid for by the Progressive Conservative campaign, which will involve meetings in his capacity as premier and chair of the Council of the Federation, representing Canada’s 13 first ministers.
Ontario’s other party leaders have been deeply critical of the decision to travel south — suggesting Ford is blurring the lines between campaigning party leader and premier during an election campaign he triggered.
“I think he’s breaking the caretaker convention — I think he plays fast and loose with rules,” Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said, referencing rules that say incumbent premiers during elections should avoid events with the perception of politically advantaging their campaign.
“Frankly, if he were a committed premier, he would be right here fighting the tariff war right here, not fighting an election campaign and leaving in the middle of an election to go to Washington.”
In D.C., Ford delivered a speech in which he said he wanted to work with President Donald Trump and help him deliver his vision of a “new golden age.”
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said Ford’s approach was “unfortunate” and the message he was delivering to the U.S. was not reflective of how Ontarians feel.
“We’re not feeling very generous toward Donald Trump and we’ve already seen Doug Ford has shown us who he is, telling us that he ‘100 per cent’ supported Donald Trump, even during the election when Donald Trump was threatening our country,” Stiles said.
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“I think Ontarians are right not to trust him and to be cynical about his trip to the United States.”
Some of Ford’s itinerary in Washington is being paid for by the Progressive Conservative Party, while other parts are being funded by the government.
A PC spokesperson told Global News that Ford’s hotels and airfare were being paid for by the party, but a fireside chat with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a networking event with senators was being funded by the taxpayer.
Speaking in Washington, Ford said the trip had been approved by the legislature’s ethics watchdog.
“I got cleared by the integrity commissioner but that’s (neither) here nor there,” he said. “The Canadian people want us here, not just Ontarians, Canadians. They want all the representatives, all their premiers here.”
Ford’s trip south is part of a lobbying effort to try and end tariff threats and increase U.S.-Canadian cooperation. It was unclear how many Americans listened to his first major event of the day, which the PC leader acknowledged was delivered to “a lot of Canadians” in attendance in D.C.
He also acknowledged the role the election he called at the end of January played in the trip and its perception.
“We’re in election mode right now,” he said. “Also the opposition thought it would be a good idea we pay for it ourselves and that’s one thing I agree with (Ontario Liberal) John Fraser about when he says the party should pay.”
Back in Ontario, the NDP, Liberals and Greens held more domestically focused campaign days.
Crombie unveiled a series of policies designed to appeal to young voters, with tax credit promises she hopes will create 40,000 internships, co-ops and apprenticeships if implemented and changes to how universities and colleges operate.
At an event on George Brown College’s campus, Crombie said she would maintain a tuition fee freeze for post-secondary education introduced by the Progressive Conservatives. That’s a freeze Stiles and the NDP also said they would keep in place.
Crombie said her party would eliminate interest on OSAP loans and raise the threshold for repayment to $50,000.
She also said her party would cap international enrollment at Ontario colleges and universities at 10 per cent and work in an as-yet-unspecified way to improve government funding of post-secondary education to end its reliance on international students.
“We are going to cut the unemployment rate for our young people in half,” Crombie proclaimed as part of her pitch.
Elsewhere, Stiles said her party would introduce rent control, turn student loans into grants and eliminate interest on student loans.
“We need to take the pressure off of students,” Stiles said at a campaign stop in Kitchener, Ont.
The NDP also unveiled a plan for southwestern Ontario, with examples of how the region would benefit from various promises her party has already unveiled, like a grocery rebate based on income and family size or the hiring of more nurses.
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner published a similarly local pledge in Kitchener Centre ahead of his party’s full platform launch on Wednesday.
The election — which is budgeted to cost $189 million — will be held on Feb. 27.
— with files from The Canadian Press
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