At the yearly winter gathering of the National Governors Association in Washington, DC, the governors are accompanied by their entourages of security detail and aides, while the obligatory black Suburbans lie idle in the downtown area. However, the largest group of people I’ve ever seen at an NGA conference—and I don’t mean just presidential entourages—didn’t belong to a governor this year. Not to mention a U.S. citizen. Premier Doug Ford of Ontario was seen driving a roughly ten-ton vehicle through the Grand Hyatt in the nation’s capital.
Later this week, Ford will face reelection and spoke with many governors from both parties. In a small room adorned with Canadian flags, he took a seat to speak with media. He began by signing each copy of a 25-page booklet titled “Building Fortress Am-Can” in black ink before distributing them. While explaining his heartbreaking disappointment in a beloved neighbor, he even went so far as to capture several unsuspecting governors in grip-and-grin shots in the hotel lobby.
It was one part of Canada’s flood-the-zone offensive, but it was full-on Ford (it would have been great if the late Chris Farley or John Candy from Toronto could have played him).
The north hasn’t launched such a marketing campaign since Tim Hortons started expanding franchisees in the south. And with good cause.
The impending tariffs and annexation threats by President Trump have Canadian officials on the verge of a panic. The first would destroy their economy, while the second would destroy their nation. They were under what one Canadian officer described as “an artillery barrage.” Here we are, then: the Maple Leaf Mafia.
“Hopefully, someone can realize the gravity of the situation. When I speak with elected officials down here, regardless of their party—Republicans won’t say it publicly, but they absolutely do not want these tariffs,” Ford told a group of AWN journalists.
At the NGA, Ford was accompanied by Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the US, and the premier of Nova Scotia. From the election forward, ministers and other provincial officials have made frequent flights on Air Canada to Washington, DC, to meet privately with Trump associates and politicians from both parties.
Additionally, Fox News frequently airs commercials for the provincial governments of Alberta and Ontario. While the British and the French have always held more sway in Washington than the Canadians, there has been talk of making more use of the embassy to gather influential figures. Trump has mentioned hockey great Wayne Gretzky as a potential prime ministerial candidate; perhaps he might pay a visit? Reports indicate that there have been conversations on a potential border incident between Montana and Alberta, which might be filmed for Fox. Conservative governments are keen to show their strength on the issue. To illustrate, consider drug-sniffing dogs, horses, and Mounties.
Canadians should take heart in the fact that their hard work is yielding results. With governors, at least.
New York Governor Kathy Hochul is eyeing higher prices on new subway cars made in part with Canadian material, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear is nervous about retaliatory tariffs on his state’s bourbon export, and Maine Governor Janet Mills may have the most reason to be alarmed, given that her state imports much of its oil from or at least through Canada.
Mills informed me that there had been communications from Canadian premiers and businesses with interests in both nations.
This is a really important subject right now. Mills stated that last week during her visit to Sen. Susan Collins on Capitol Hill, they spoke about the amount of petroleum and home heating fuel that is imported. Collins is the senior senator from Maine.
Mills said that she raised her hand during Trump’s question and answer session on Friday, following her now-viral confrontation with the president at the White House. “I was hoping to learn how Canada had wronged us and what the situation is with the border with Canada,” she explained to me, her voice trailing off: “Unfortunately, I wasn’t picked up.”
Prior to getting down to business, North Dakota Governor Kelly Armstrong entertained Ambassador Hillman at the Hyatt by regaling him with tales of his joys hunting the abundant animals in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which is part of Canada.
Hillman, in an effort to win over a Republican, brought up an exchange she had with Trump’s commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, in which she emphasized the United States’ hard stance against China.
“I was telling Lutnick last week that we’ve coerced two Chinese mining companies into selling their shares; have you all done the same?” That was what Hillman stated.
As the conversation shifted from geopolitics to pure politics, the two broached a topic that has swept Ottawa but remains somewhat of a whisper in Washington: the fact that the Conservative Party’s apparent triumph over the Liberals in the current election in Canada becomes slightly less certain with each suggestion that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States.
The Liberals under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been in a tailspin for months; Trudeau resigned and a fellow Liberal will take over next month; the latter is anticipated to seek an early election. But being associated with Trump is now just as bad for Canada’s popularity as being associated with Trudeau, and the clean referendum that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had hoped for after almost a decade of Liberal government has turned out to be something else entirely.
Instead of going to hockey games, Canadians are booing the US national anthem, not drinking American alcohol, and not going to Florida or Las Vegas for winter vacation.
According to Ford, “every time Trump goes after Trudeau the Liberals’ numbers go up.” She brought this up with the political officials down there. It was a landslide for Pierre Poilievre before, but now they’re practically neck and neck. How is that accomplished? Going from over 20 points ahead to tied.
Since another Liberal prime minister could be simpler to troll, Trump, according to Armstrong, a cunning political animal, may not care if his insults are weakening Canada’s Conservatives. I was informed by Armstrong that he enjoys having the foil.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is just one of Trump’s cunning allies who has come up with the strongest case yet to dissuade the president from mentioning the 51st state.
Graham informed Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly that Republicans were aware that annexing Canada would only result in the addition of safe Democratic seats at yet another discussion between Canadian officials and American politicians, which took place earlier this month on the margins of the Munich Security Conference.
With two Democratic senators already in place, “ain’t no way in hell I’m voting to make Canada a state,” Graham informed me in Munich. “I warned Mélanie last night that we will not allow a group of Canadian liberals to become part of our system.”
