‘The best ad that’s ever been run,’ Ford says of anti-tariff commercial, as Carney looks on

Premier Ford says the Ronald Reagan tariff ad was the ‘best ad ever run,’ and it reached a lot of Americans' attention. PM Carney did not comment.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the anti-tariff ad his government ran south of the border briefly this fall, was “the best ad that’s ever been run,” despite U.S. President Donald Trump terminating trade talks with Canada over it.

“12.4 billion views,” Ford said while speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Thursday. “We wanted to bring it to the attention of the American people, and to be very frank, it was President Trump. If he didn’t comment on it, rather than 12.4 billion views, it might be 12.4 people viewing it.”

As Ford said this, Prime Minister Mark Carney – standing just behind him as the pair had just signed a new co-operation agreement – smirked, and then made a series of faces that indicated he disagreed with what he was hearing.

The premier went on to say that he’s aware it’s easier for him to say this, given he’s not the Canadian official on the front lines navigating negotiations with Trump and his officials.

When Carney’s facial expressions were flagged to Ford in a follow-up question, the premier said he was not speaking for the prime minister.

“I’m speaking for the people of Ontario. We’re getting hit the most out of any single province in this entire country,” Ford said. “I’m going to continue fighting to make sure we get a fair deal.”

Ford’s comments came after CTV News initially asked Carney if it was his view that sectoral tariffs would be lower right now if Ford hadn’t aired the ad, which featured the voice of former Republican U.S. president Ronald Reagan speaking about protectionism.

In response to that, before Ford weighed in, the prime minister indicated that the two countries had been “close to an agreement,” but are now more likely to iron out steel, aluminum and other sector-specific trade tensions as part of the broader review of their trade relationship, in the new year.

• A chronology of Ontario’s ad blitz against U.S. tariffs

In the immediate aftermath of the ad drama this fall, Ford and Carney appeared at odds over the ordeal, with the premier saying the prime minister had asked him to pull the ad. Ford also expressed a difference in recollection of the conversations between them, in the lead up to the ad airing in the first place.

The premier told Queen’s Park reporters that both the prime minister and his chief of staff Marc-André Blanchard saw the ad prior to it airing, which the Prime Minister’s Office would not confirm or deny.

A federal government source would only say at the time that the “decision was made by the Government of Ontario, and the federal government was not involved in the production or distribution of this ad.”

The ad also led U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra to lash out at Ontario’s trade representative in Washington, David Paterson, at an event in Ottawa back in October.

Throughout, Carney – who apologized to Trump for the ad – was clear that Canada stood ready to resume talks at any time, a position he restated on Thursday.

“We’re ready to sit down on the weekend, negotiate any weekend, anytime,” Carney said. “But we’re also busy.”

With files from CTV News’ Stephanie Ha