Ford trades shots with PM, but doesn’t follow through on threat to leave summit,

Despite ongoing discord, premiers sign statement on areas of agreement

MONTREAL— He came. He stayed. He traded shots with the prime minister.

But in the end, after declining to follow through on his threat to stage a dramatic walkout, Premier Doug Ford came out of Friday’s first ministers’ summit in the same position as when he came in: at loggerheads with the prime minister over whether the federal carbon tax will help stop climate change or ruin the economy.

The lack of movement was de- monstrative of a conference in which leaders papered over their discord on matters ranging from the construction of oil pipelines to how to tackle climate change with a joint communiqué — signed by all — that outlined areas of agreement.

These included concurrence on the need for federal action to help the oil sector struggling with a slump in prices, and to strengthen trade between the provinces and territories.

“We were able to come together with a communiqué that is supported by all parties, including Ontario,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said after six hours of discussions with the premiers. “This is a significant achievement.”

Even so, the animosity on display between Queen’s Park and Ottawa since Ford took the premier’s chair bubbled to the surface. Ford, along with fellow anti-carbon tax premier Scott Moe of Saskatchewan, accused Trudeau of blindsiding the premiers by changing his expectations for how much certain provinces will have to cut their greenhouse gas emissions under the national climate change plan.

“All of a sudden, we had a little surprise in the room. The goalposts got changed,” Ford said.

The premier pointed to Canada’s emissions reduction target under the international Paris Agreement — a drop to 30 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 — and said Trudeau told him some provinces will have to cut beyond their share of that goal.

“Some will carry more water than other provinces. That sets uncertainty within our economy,” Ford said. “Why should we be punished, Ontario businesses and families, over this? It’s just not right and it’s not fair.”

Trudeau denied he was changing his policy and slagged Ford’s government for taking a “step backwards” by scrapping the province’s cap-and-trade regime and imposing its own plan to curb emissions that doesn’t include a tax on emissions.

Ontario claims that plan, which includes a publicly funded trust to encourage businesses to switch to greener technol- ogy, will curb emissions to 30 per cent below 2005 levels without a carbon tax. But Ottawa has deemed Ontario’s actions inadequate to fulfil its national goals to combat climate change, and is imposing the federally-designed carbon price in the province, as well as in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and New Brunswick.

“We have an approach that recognizes that Canada’s targets are national targets, and even though the premier may want to play games with numbers, what is clear that we are going to move forward — as we always have — in a very consistent way,” Trudeau said. “If anyone is moving the goalposts, it’s Premier Ford.”