TORONTO – Tariffs “promised” by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Canadian products could result in the loss of 500,000 jobs in Ontario, creating the need to invest billions of dollars, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said today during a press conference in Toronto to discuss his “Fortress Am-Can” plan. 

Addressing the issue of Trump’s 25% tariff on Canadian imports, Premier Ford said he had received numbers from his ministries summarizing the possible effects of such tariffs: “This is serious, unprecedented … it could cost us 500,000 jobs” Ford said, adding that his government would be forced to spend “tens of billions of dollars” to protect and support the province, its businesses and its workers if the tariffs were implemented.

Meanwhile, tomorrow Ford and the other Canadian prime ministers will travel to Ottawa to meet with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc, in a meeting called specifically to decide on a common front against Donald Trump’s threats.

The premier of Ontario has repeatedly asked the federal government to reveal more details about the initiatives planned to protect the border from illegal flows of migrants and drugs, a condition imposed by Trump to avoid the imminent tariffs. For his part, Ford will bring his contribution to the cause with the “Fortress Am-Can” plan, relaunched today during the press conference in Toronto. A plan that includes the strengthening of security on land, water and air along the border between Canada and the United States, including the protection of Arctic sovereignty as a key component of “Fortress Am-Can”.

” In an increasingly unstable world, Fortress Am-Can can protect integrated supply chains, ensure our economic stability and growth, and detect and prevent any threat to our two nations. Ontario is ready and has the strategic capabilities to do our part to get this done”. In this regard, Ontario recently launched Operation Deterrence, the Province’s preparedness and planning framework for increased international border security and to counter criminal activity that harms people on both sides of the border: the plan includes a team of 200 officers who, together with front-line and specialized officers, are improving border security in collaboration with the RCMP and have already detected, disrupted and deterred illegal activity at the border (click here for more details).

Now, to implement Fortress Am-Can, the Ontario government is recommending a series of measures to the federal government, including: meeting and exceeding Canada’s NATO target of 2% in defence spending, and investing in the rehabilitation of the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD); investing in Canada’s unique strategic capabilities and expertise, including Ontario’s critical mass of innovation in artificial intelligence to support the future of autonomous air and underwater combat vehicles for both military and border security and detection purposes; expanding Canada’s shipbuilding capacity to build new icebreakers to protect the Arctic; securing key economic and trade corridors, including the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Windsor-Detroit Gateway and the Gordie Howe International Bridge, scheduled to open in late 2025; stem the cross-border flow of illegal guns, contraband tobacco, and illegal drugs like fentanyl, and crack down on illegal immigration, through increased permanent funding for greater oversight and support at the border, with enhanced law enforcement tools, new technology, and increased joint training for both U.S. and Canadian law enforcement (click here for more details; below, the whole video of today’s press conference).

Among Ontario’s strengths, Ford noted in an earlier press conference amid the minerals of the Ontario Royal Museum (click here for more details), there is the “Ring of Fire” with its mines of critical minerals needed for new technologies, “including the advanced military technologies that will define geopolitical and economic security for the next century” Ford said. “Ontario and Canada have critical minerals in abundance and America needs them. At a time when China is winning the race to dominate these resources while also restricting the sale and shipment of critical minerals to the U.S., Canada and Ontario need to urgently get our critical minerals out of the ground, processed and shipped to the factory floors that are building for the future. The success of Fortress Am-Can depends on it” – below, the whole video of yesterday’s press conference.