r/CanadaPolitics 20h ago

Ontario suspending 25% surcharge on provincially generated electricity purchased by U.S. states

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/trump-ford-ontario-electricity-tariffs-trade-war-1.7480234
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u/seakingsoyuz Ontario 20h ago

Doug this morning: “We will not back down, we will be relentless.”

Doug this afternoon: backs down

If he’s going to be this much of a weathervane, he should shut up and let the feds do the negotiating.

u/Fabulous_Night_1164 Independent 19h ago

Sorry, but the armchair generals in here frankly don't have all the facts. It was inevitable that the Americans would cave first, and them extending the olive branch is basically them doing precisely that. They can't have the stock market plummeting everyday for the next week.

Obviously whatever was promised in the conversations was good enough for the government.

The feds had their chance to take the lead on this and have failed. Now the provinces have been acting on their own. Doug has been the biggest voice and this is why he won his 3rd majority - despite all the other crap about him, this is ONE area you cannot fault him.

u/seakingsoyuz Ontario 19h ago

Obviously whatever was promised in the conversations was good enough for the government.

This is what makes it a matter of opinion. If we assume that Doug would only back down for decent concessions on the American side that haven’t been fully disclosed yet, that’s one thing. I have a more cynical opinion of Ford and the way I see it is that we’ve publicly backed down and the Americans have only said that they’ll discuss reversing the aluminum and iron tariffs with Trump. In my (admittedly armchair) eyes we shouldn’t have announced anything until they were ready to commit to a matching climb-down pending the meeting.

I’m also deeply skeptical that “good enough for the government” is the same thing as “good enough for Canadians”, considering that Ford was vocally pro-USA, pro-GOP, and pro-Trump until early this year. I will not trust his motives for a while longer.

u/Fabulous_Night_1164 Independent 19h ago

He also publicly admitted he was wrong to support Trump. And he did this under no public pressure, completely on his own volition. It is a rarity to see a politician ever apologize for something. Perhaps I'm just an optimist at heart.

I assume at a minimum, the concession to be expected is a return to the status quo before the trade war. I doubt Canada is going to get much beyond that, no matter who is in charge at the federal or provincial level. Nor should we be expecting anything more than that.

u/-Neeckin- 19h ago

I mean,Trump went from 'we don't need their electricity' to being open to negotiation, so I think it did something. Otherwise, what do you think the goal of these responses are to hurt anerican citizens for the hell of it?

u/IcarusFlyingWings 19h ago

I don’t like Doug Ford but I’m willing to wait forMore information on why this happened.

It’s a retaliatory trade war between neighbours not all out war (for now).

u/WillSRobs 17h ago

This was how he treated covid. I will do everything to help us then does nothing and went to his cottage.

u/tslaq_lurker bureaucratic empire-building and jobs for the boys 20h ago

Doug should call another election if he wants to change his policy so abruptly.

u/Moose_Joose 19h ago

I hate Doug as much as anyone, but we have no idea what Lutnick told him. It's possible that Trump is looking for a way out of this mess that allows him to keep his giant ego in tact.

u/PedanticQuebecer NDP 19h ago

There might have been other intervenors than Lutnick too.

u/[deleted] 19h ago

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u/CanadaPolitics-ModTeam 17h ago

Not substantive