With ‘Ontario-first,’ Ford copying Biden playbook
Doug Ford couldn’t have been clearer last week about how Ontario will be voting with its wallet in future.
“We’re changing the scorecard,” the premier announced. “We’re going to worry about the people of Ontario, not worry about the rest of the world. We’re worrying about the people of Ontario and creating jobs here.”
Ford is apparently taking off his Captain Canada cape — one he’s been increasingly wearing over the past year — and donning his Ontario-first hat, at least when it comes to provincial government purchases.
He explained in no uncertain terms how Ontario-owned businesses would be getting preferential treatment when his government had money to spend. Never mind basing purchasing decisions simply on the lowest price, Ford said — Ontario-based firms would get a geography bonus on that procurement scorecard.
“Why don’t we get additional points for a company that’s here in Ontario?” Ford asked. “Because what happens, people bid on it and guess what? They’re shipping the goods down to Mexico to get made and being shipped up here. I don’t want that. I want madein-Ontario products.”
Pandemic protectionism is definitely a thing. It’s been building since the first wave of COVID-19, when governments all across Canada found themselves far too vulnerable to the shaky global supply chain for masks and personal protective equipment.
It’s not just a sentiment on the populist right of the political spectrum either. Ford, who has been repeatedly compared to Donald Trump, would probably be bemused to hear he was talking much like president-elect Joe Biden on Monday.
Biden has been serving notice last week that he intends to be an America-first enthusiast with regard to government purchases when he takes over the White House.
“From autos to our stockpiles, we’re going to buy American,” Biden said in a speech in Delaware, where his transitional operations are still based. “No government contracts will be given to companies that don’t make their products here in America.”
Pronouncements like this one make a lot of people feel good in a scary, stay-at-home world. But they are also an uneasy fit with the complicated universe where governments need to co-operate and trade across borders.
Ford, we will remember, was quite ticked off with Trump when he invoked an Americafirst order for production of pandemic-relief supplies back in April and shipments of masks to Canada were temporarily imperilled.
Canada won an exemption to that order, which was no easy feat with Trump’s White House. But it’s looking like that battle might have to be rejoined once more under future president Biden. On this score, Democrats and Republicans are remarkably like-minded, which is not good news for Canada and its economic dependence on trade with the U.S.
All through the pandemic, the Canadian government has been using up a lot of diplomatic energy south of the border talking up the notion of a “North America first” style of protectionism. There’s a recognition, in short, that buy-local sentiments are all the rage right now, but Canada wants to be seen as part of the local, U.S. neighbourhood.
How Ford’s aggressive, Ontario-first approach fits into that negotiation will be interesting to watch as the buy-American Biden regime takes over from Trump. We are all pandemic protectionists right up to the minute we need something a little farther away from home — like a vaccine, for instance.
Throughout the pandemic and even a little bit before then, Ford has been playing an intriguing if unexpected role as honest broker with Ottawa. It’s very much in the tradition of past Ontario premiers, from Bill Davis to David Peterson to Bob Rae, who often cast the largest province’s interests as synonymous with those of the larger Canadian federation.
But it’s off-script for a politician who came to power vowing to be Justin Trudeau’s biggest nightmare. Ford and Trudeau are so friendly now that they do events together and the Ontario premier is on speed dial with Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland.
That’s what made Ford’s spirited Ontario-first announcement on Monday so noteworthy. What kind of walls is the premier erecting around Fortress Ontario? Was this a warning of some kind?
The pandemic has turned everyone into local business boosters, from premiers to presidents. But recovering from the pandemic is going to take some co-operation across borders, where Ontario-first just might collide with America-first.
“Let’s just forget about everyone else,” Ford said on Monday. It’s a great slogan when everyone is busy shutting their doors to the outside world. It’s less clear whether this is a sustainable strategy for the post-pandemic future.
Throughout the pandemic and even a little bit before, Premier Doug Ford has been playing an intriguing if unexpected role as honest broker with Ottawa