Ontario Premier Doug Ford says that he does not believe he went too far in his personal attacks against U.S. President Donald Trump earlier this week.
Ford called Trump a “loser” and the “king of bankruptcies” during a news conference in Hamilton on Monday before conceding in a series of U.S. media appearances that the war of words between them got a little too “personal” and a “little heated.”
At a news conference on Wednesday, Ford was asked whether his decision to soften his language was done out of concern that the attacks may have put a target on Ontario’s back, to which he replied “not at all.”
“Those words resonated and I usually don’t use those words but when your country is under attack and your province is under attack and this guy is just nothing but a bully it resonated around the world,” Ford said. “It didn’t matter what political stripe. It didn’t matter if you are from the green, orange, red, blue parties, everyone is united.”
Ford’s war of words with Trump began after he appeared on The Morning Rush with Bill Carroll in Ottawa and said that the U.S president could “kiss my ass” in response to his threat to slap a 50 per cent on all Canadian cars, trucks, automotive parts, and steel on New Year’s Day.
Trump subsequently criticized Ford by name in a post on Truth Social in which he referred to him as “the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great, Rob Ford.”
Speaking with reporters on Wednesday, Ford said that he spoke with Prime Minister Mark Carney over the phone following the public war of words but was not told to tone down his attacks.
“I had a call but he never said that at all. He knows I have his back, the country knows I have their back and yeah does it get heated? When Donald Trump wants to take the livelihood and try to hurt our country and hurt the province I have a job for the people of Ontario. I will fight with every tool I have to protect them,” he said.
Trump told CNN on Tuesday that it might be time to run down the temperature in the back-and-forth with Trump.
While he continued to stand behind his earlier attacks on Wednesday, he did offer that it was a “heated day” and he thought it might be best “just to simmer down.”
“It looks like he (Trump) simmered down too,” he said.
Toronto mayor says Trump should ‘take a page’ from Dolly Parton
Ford’s comments came as Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow made a series of appearances on U.S. television in which she accused Trump of waging a “senseless brutal attack” on Canada and urged him to “take a page” from the late Dolly Parton.
Chow made the Parton comment during an interview with CBS Mornings on Wednesday before repeating it during a subsequent interview with CNN.
“I think Mr. Trump should take a page from Dolly Parton,” Chow said of the late singer, who died on Tuesday at age 80. “She is loving, she is generous, she is joyous. That is the way to treat your best neighbour and your friend. Not bullying. That is not who we are.”
Chow told CBS News that she believes Trump has “lost his way” as he pursues a trade war that will only result in rising prices on both sides of the border.
She then expressed dismay at why the U.S. president continues to escalate the trade war and urged Americans to call their elected representatives to speak out.
“For generations, our close relationships have produced a lot of prosperity on both sides of the border, so I don’t really understand why President Trump is attacking us because the price of everything is going to go up,” she said. “We are supposed to love our neighbour. My brother, my cousins are all Americans. We are so tied economically and you get the best deal on our oil, lumber and auto parts, so to do this kind of senseless brutal attack … why? There is absolutely no reason.”
In the appearance on CNN, Chow was pressed on whether she would support placing a surtax on electricity exports to the U.S. amid the trade war and responded that Ford should do “whatever it takes.”
“We cannot continue this way because our economy is quite integrated,” she said.
