Ford says Canada must remain united to draw business investment

Premier Doug Ford speaks at a media event on Jan. 30, 2019. Andrew Francis Wallace/Toronto Star

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Canada must show the world a united front to spur business investment.

The premier spoke with reporters following a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Parliament Hill Friday morning. Ford said Canada must be unified to give businesses certainty, otherwise they will leave the country and invest elsewhere.

“We have to stick together and send a message to the rest of the world that we’re Canada, and we’re ready to move forward,” he said.

Ford is the fourth Conservative premier the prime minister has met with since last month’s federal election in a bid to find common ground and unite the country. Trudeau met with Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe last week, and Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister the week before. As well, he met with P.E.I. premier Dennis King on Nov. 7. 

Ford said he had a “great meeting” with prime minister and that the two will collaborate on shared priorities like transit, infrastructure, health care and economic development. He said there will always be areas the two leaders disagree on, like climate change policies.

The Saskatchewan government’s challenge of the federal carbon tax, which is supported by Ontario, will go before the Supreme Court in early 2020. The tax, which was imposed in Ontario after Ford’s Progressive Conservative government scrapped the cap-and-trade system of the previous Liberal government, is also being challenged by Alberta and New Brunswick.

During his visit to Ottawa, Premier Moe said the prime minister had rejected his request to pause the carbon tax. The premier said the tax was hurting farmers in Saskatchewan who had an especially difficult harvest season and were now being taxed extra on propane and natural gas used to dry grain.

“Some farmers are having some very large carbon tax bills that are coming on their grain drying costs,” he said.

Ford said he told the prime minister the concerns of Western and Prairie provinces need to be taken seriously.

“They’re hurting out there,” he said, noting that when he visited Calgary in the summer, half the buildings in the city’s core were empty.

The Western provinces received another blow after 3,200 Canadian National Railway workers walked off the job this week. Conductors, trainpersons and yard workers are on strike after their union, the Teamsters Canada Rail Conference, and CN Rail failed to reach a deal by a midnight deadline on Tuesday.

The strike will significantly affect freight shipping across the country, and in particular, the export of agricultural products such as wheat and canola. Oil, retail products and lumber are also set to be hit by the disruption because lines operated by the country’s largest railway serve as a crucial, and often the only, economical means of getting products to and from markets.

In a statement, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said Trudeau must recall Parliament as soon as possible to enact emergency legislation to get the trains running.

But Ford said calling back the legislature and enacting emergency legislation would take a couple of weeks.

“It doesn’t happen right away,” he said.

The strike, Ford said, comes at a “critical time,” especially for areas that rely on propane. He said immediate results are needed and that the prime minister is working hard to bring both sides together and get the trains moving again.

Ford will host a premier’s meeting in Toronto on Dec. 2. The meeting, Ford said, will be an opportunity to hear concerns from the West and discuss national pharmacare.

The Liberal’s election campaign platform promised to establish a federal drug agency and create a list of medicines in collaboration with the provinces and territories to lower prescription drug prices so “all Canadians have the drug coverage they need at an affordable price.”

Canada’s new health minister, Patty Hajdu, indicated Thursday that the Liberal government is open to outside perspectives, including potentially working with the New Democrats, when developing a pharmacare program, which both parties promised during the last election.

Meanwhile, Ontario Health Minister Christine Elliot said she does not want a full federal pharmacare overhaul, and asked Hajdu to focus instead on drugs for rare and orphan diseases.

Ford said Friday that Ontario has a “great” OHIP Plus coverage and a “robust private sector plan.” He said he will sit down and talk to rest of the premiers about a national pharmacare program.

“I know [Trudeau] is open minded to working with all the premiers,” Ford said. “He wants to work with all the premiers.”