Scott Stinson: As Ottawa asks provinces to end U.S. liquor bans, Captain Canada goes silent

In just about every public appearance he has made over the last few months, Doug Ford has expressed his displeasure with Donald Trump.

Often it comes as an aside to his scripted remarks, as when the Ontario premier, while recently mentioning the importance of trust in a trade relationship, veered off to say that he didn’t “trust Trump as far as I could throw him.” Or, when saying how much he generally likes Americans, he’ll pause and say, “I’ll tell ya, there’s one guy down there I don’t like too much.”

Sometimes his complaints have been a bit more measured. At last month’s first ministers’ meeting in Charlottetown, after the U.S. president threatened to impose 50 per cent tariffs on certain Canadian goods, Ford said his fellow premiers “should be a little more vocal” in defending Canada’s interests. “I feel some days that I’m standing alone,” he said.

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But now, with federal negotiators said to be in the final stretches of reaching a trade deal with their U.S. counterparts, one that would avoid the worst of the tariffs that Trump has threatened while offering concessions in return, it is Ford who has gone unusually quiet. While other premiers told reporters on Wednesday after a call with Prime Minister Mark Carney that they were encouraged by his update on the trade talks and felt confident of a positive resolution, Ford was nowhere to be seen. Inquiries to his office were met with a response that there would be no comment forthcoming.

The Ontario premier, who easily won re-election last year while literally wearing a “Canada is Not for Sale” cap on his head, seems to have shelved the Captain Canada bit, at least for now.

But is that an indication that Ford is displeased with the concessions that Carney is prepared to make, or a sign that he is keeping quiet and falling in line with whatever the prime minister has requested, which would include an end to provincial bans on U.S. alcohol?

If the latter is true, it would mark something of a shift for Ford. He has consistently, over a period of months, called for Canada to take a harder line in trade negotiations with the United States, saying that the only way to deal with a bully is to fight back. He has also said repeatedly that he would only allow the provincially run LCBO to return U.S. alcohol to store shelves if Trump rescinded the tariffs that he imposed on Canadian steel, aluminum and automobiles last year.

Last week, he softened that position somewhat, saying he would be willing to end the ban on U.S. alcohol in the event of “a fair deal.” It’s unknown if Ford would consider the reduction of some of Trump’s tariffs, but not the elimination of them, as meeting his definition of fair, but given his general tenor about the trade relationship with the United States, probably not.