Ontario Premier Doug Ford is calling on the U.S. ambassador to Canada to apologize to the province’s trade representative, saying Pete Hoekstra’s behaviour was “absolutely unacceptable,” but added he felt he got “heated.”
“Pete, you gotta call Dave up and apologize, it’s simple, the cheese slipped off the cracker,” Ford said Wednesday. “I get it, you’re ticked off, but call the guy up because you’re a good guy and Dave’s my champion.”
Ford was referring to a report in the Globe and Mail that Hoekstra went on what was called an expletive-filled dressing-down against Ontario’s trade representative, David Paterson, at the annual Canadian American Business Council gala on Monday over a commercial Ford’s government released last week.
“Absolutely unacceptable, never heard anything about it. All I’m getting at, I’m not telling him, I’m suggesting, you get hot-headed one day, call Dave up and say, ‘I apologize. Sorry. Got a little heated,’” Ford said when asked if the comments were acceptable for a diplomat.
The premier said he likes Hoekstra and called him a “good guy,” but urged the ambassador to apologize and “bury the hatchet.”
The reported comments by Hoekstra came just days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced he was ending trade talks with Canada over the $75-million ad campaign.
That ad featured former Republican president Ronald Reagan’s views on tariffs and protectionism, and raised the anger of Trump, who has repeatedly called it a “fraud.”
Trump also announced Saturday he would be adding a 10 per cent tariff on top of already existing duties on Canada, though he did not say how or when the tariffs would roll out.
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Chris Bittle, Liberal MP for St. Catherines, told reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday that swearing “in general in this business crosses the line,” but said it’s telling to the frustration both countries are having on trade.
“I think there’s a frustration on both sides that’s coming out,” Bittle said. “Hopefully this points to both sides being frustrated, both sides wanting a deal and getting it done, and I’m sure we’ve both said things under our breath that we’ve regretted later, especially when tensions are this high.
“I think swearing in general in this business crosses the line and typically tends to be unprofessional and undignified, not something we usually see from diplomats but again this is high pressure, high tension.”
Some of Canada’s premiers have come out in support of the ad. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew said last Thursday, before trade talks were suspended, that Ford should not pull the ads.
On Monday, B.C. Premier David Eby told reporters his province would go ahead with its own American ad campaign targeting Trump’s “unfair and absurd” lumber tariffs.
“It is absolutely essential that we talk to Americans about the implications of tariffs, about the fact that trade policy in the United States right now is governed not by logic, not by economics, not by relationship, but by something else entirely,” Eby told reporters in Victoria, B.C.
Yet following Trump ending trade talks, Prime Minister Mark Carney suggested the commercial was the sole reason for the “unexpected twists and turns” in the talks, and emphasized that though he’s open to “unsolicited advice” on the discussions, the negotiations are the “sole responsibility of the government of Canada.”
“There were a series of very detailed, very specific, very comprehensive discussions, negotiations … up until the point of those ads running,” Carney said during an international summit in Asia. “I would suggest you take the president at his word.”
The premier was asked Wednesday how he knew Carney and his chief of staff saw the ad before he went ahead with airing it, Ford responded: “I was with them.”
Ford went on to question what the U.S. expects him to do.
“When you have someone attacking your province, attacking your country, constantly saying it’s the 51st state, trying to take our auto jobs to the U.S., taking our manufacturing life science jobs, trying to take our steel jobs, what do they expect me to do?” he asked. “Sit back and roll over like every other person in the world? I’m going to fight like I’ve never fought before.”
He added that he has a bet with Hoekstra that if the Toronto Blue Jays win the World Series, the ambassador will have to wear a Jays jersey, while he’ll wear a Los Angeles Dodgers jersey if the Jays lose.
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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