In a taste of what is to come, Ford and Trudeau are battling on several fronts

Thestar.com
October 26, 2018
Robert Benzie

You could call it a slugfest for the selfie age.

Canada’s two biggest celebrity politicians--Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Progressive Conservative Premier Doug Ford--are squaring off on many fronts.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford pose for a photo at the Ontario Legislature on July 5, 2018. Today they are squaring off on numerous issues.

Trudeau went into Ford’s home riding of Etobicoke North, which has been held federally by the Liberals since 1988, on Tuesday to announce the federal carbon-pricing plan.

That so-called “backstop” will end Ontario’s previous exemption because the Tories are cancelling the former provincial Liberal government’s “cap-and-trade” carbon-pricing alliance with Quebec and California.

The premier, who was in Sault Ste. Marie, responded with a statement calling Trudeau’s move a “massive tax hike,” and a “temporary vote buying scheme that will be discarded once the election is over.”

A day earlier, with Ford’s support, a Tory backbencher tabled private member’s legislation at Queen’s Park designed to embarrass Ottawa by stripping health-care benefits and all other provincial services from any Canadian-born terrorist residing in Ontario.

“The Trudeau government has had numerous chances to address this issue but has continuously failed to do so,” Community Safety Minister Michael Tibollo told the legislature Tuesday.

“That’s why our government for the people is taking the necessary steps to address this issue and ensure that convicted terrorists understand that we are not going to welcome them back to this province with open arms,” said Tibollo.

And the province’s trade minister has abruptly cancelled plans to attend a first ministers meeting later this week because the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement was supposedly not on the agenda (though the USMCA will now be discussed.)

Economic Development and Trade Minister Jim Wilson’s decision followed a fractious visit last week from federal Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who urged Ford to stick to his provincial duties instead of dreaming of a career in national office.

Against the backdrop of the rookie premier’s apparent federal ambitions and a federal election next fall, relations between Canada’s two most powerful politicians are fraught.

“I think the campaign for re-election of Justin Trudeau started today,” said provincial Environment Minister Rod Phillips.

“What he seems to be saying by that choice of location--despite not admitting it--is that he wants to run against Doug Ford,” said Phillips.

For Trudeau, campaigning against the most famous and powerful Tory in the country may attract more headlines than challenging low-profile federal Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer.

Ford, similarly, will exploit the war of words for his own political purposes.

With the provincial Liberals decimated, Trudeau is a more compelling foe for the new Tory government to blame for all that ails it than the NDP now in official opposition.

That’s why the premier, who will spend $35 million challenging the prime minister’s carbon-pricing plan in court, and his cabinet members plan to keep the heat on Ottawa over the coming year.