Ford has a bite at a certain D.C. hotel

WASHINGTON— Premier Doug Ford had lunch at Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C.

Ford, a Progressive Conservative and a vocal supporter of the Republican U.S. president during the 2016 election, was invited to the hotel by Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Canada, Kelly Craft, according to the premier’s office and the Canadian Embassy. The Canadian ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, was also in attendance at the Wednesday luncheon.

“The premier was happy to accept Ambassador Kraft’s (sic) invitation to lunch, along with Ambassador MacNaughton,” Ford’s press secretary, Ivana Yelich, said in an email. Foreign politicians and diplomats seeking to curry Trump’s favour have frequented the hotel throughout Trump’s term, prompting criticism of them and of the president. Trump has been sued over this spending by the attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, D.C., who accuse him of violating a section of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits the president from taking “emoluments” from foreign officials. Foreign stays at the hotel are at the focus.

Ford was making his first foreign trip as premier. His visit focused on the NAFTA negotiations, which resumed Wednesday. He was “standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our federal government,” with which he has been at odds on other issues, and he praised the Liberals for “doing a great job.”

“I can reassure that Ontario and Canada is united when it comes to NAFTA,” Ford told CP 24.