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 the following day 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” before suggesting it was in fact “the opposite.” “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 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. Ford did tell CNN on Tuesday that it might be time to turn down the temperature in the back-and-forth with Trump. But he didn’t apologize for the attacks in any of his U.S. media appearances and on Wednesday would only say that it might be best “just to simmer down” so the focus can return to negotiating a deal to end the trade war. Ford makes headlines south of border The delicate balance that Ford appears to be working to strike comes as his attacks against Trump continue to make headlines on both sides of the border. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal published a lengthy story examining Ford’s role in the trade war titled “The Canadian Bad Cop on the Front Lines of the U.S. Trade War.” In the piece, the newspaper cited a senior White House official who said that Trump posted about Ford on Truth Social because he had grown “annoyed with the Ontario politician taking ‘pot shots’ at him in television interviews.” Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish referenced the Wall Street Journal reporting during an interview with CP24 on Wednesday afternoon, saying she didn’t see why “good cop-bad cop doesn’t work in a trade war.” “I have no problems with what the premier is doing,” she said. “I think he is very impassioned and he is very concerned. We are the breadbasket of Canada and if we are suffering everyone is going to be suffering right across the country so I agree with what he is doing.” Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati also alluded to a “good cop-bad cop” approach by Ford and Carney during a subsequent interview with CP24 but suggested that Canadian officials should “watch our words” for the time being. “He got a little emotional and I don’t blame him because he represents a lot of people that are going to lose jobs, a lot of people whose income is going to get caught and the cost of living is going to go up, so I understand the emotion but we’ve got to measure twice, cut once,” he said. Hamilton Mayor Andrea Horwath said she was “not surprised that the premier reacted the way that he did.” Horwath added that Trump’s comments about the premier’s brother were in “poor taste.“ “That’s just such bad form,” Horwath said in an interview with CP24 on Wednesday afternoon. “I mean, I get it. Trump has got a reputation for being brash and saying terrible things. But really, that’s how low you’re going to go?” “I think the premier reacted because of how he was goaded into it or prodded into it. At the end of the day, it was personal, and it should never get to that.” Horwath said. Toronto mayor says Trump should ‘take a page’ from Dolly Parton Ford isn’t the only Canadian leader taking aim at Trump following a collapse in trade talks with the U.S. last week. Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow made a series of appearances on U.S. television on Wednesday 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.”
