Ontario Premier Doug Ford is exercising his Trump card by imposing a 25 per cent surcharge on power exports to the U.S.
With the Trump administration threatening tariffs on Canadian dairy, lumber, steel and aluminum, Ford said in a March 10 Queen’s Park news conference that he is following through on an export tax on Ontario-generated power.
“Let me be clear, I will not hesitate to increase this charge.”
Ford said he’s taking a wait-and-see approach to completely cutting off power to the U.S. based on the Trump administration’s threats to escalate retaliatory measures in April.
The export tax will impact some 1.5 million homes and businesses in Michigan, Minnesota and New York state. Ford said this will add an extra $100 a month to individual American consumer’s monthly power bills.
Energy Minister Stephen Lecce added the surcharge will add $300,000 to $400,000 every day for Ontario’s coffers.
Ford said he does so reluctantly, blaming President Donald Trump for forcing Ontario’s hand, but reconciles that the move is about protecting Ontario’s jobs and economy.
“We will apply maximum pressure to maximize our leverage.”
Ford said the surcharge will remain in place until U.S. tariffs are completely removed and the threat is gone. “Ontario will not relent.”
With the U.S. stock market tumbling, Ford said the Trump administration is causing “chaos and confusion” every day with new threats and shifting timelines on tariffs that’s only hurting investment, businesses and families on both sides.
“We need to end the chaos, once and for all.”
Lecce said Ontario is well positioned to do this.
The province is an overproducer of power, sending 12,000 megawatts per hour to the U.S. — often at a discounted price — while importing 374 megawatts hourly, a net production gain of more than 30 times.
Lecce said the reverberations from this surcharge could be felt by even more American states, especially for those states that resell Ontario power at an upscaled price.
He reassured Ontarians that the province has enough generating capacity and infrastructure to dial up power production, when needed, to meet power demands on the hottest and coldest days. There are plans on the horizon to add more nuclear and hydroelectric generating capacity.
Ford made some pre-emptive strikes last week against the U.S. by barring U.S. contractors from bidding on provincial infrastructure projects, removing American liquor from LCBO shelves, and threatening to halt Ontario-mined nickel from being exported to the U.S.
The latter warning caught the attention of Vale Base Metals chair Mark Cutifani.
With new leadership in place in Ottawa, Ford didn’t turn down the opportunity to push for more critical minerals production.
In congratulating incoming Prime Minister Mark Carney for winning the federal Liberal leadership race on the weekend, Ford mentioned that mine development in the Ring of Fire remains a priority for his government.
A federal election call could be a week to 10 days away.
On matters of natural resource development, Ford reiterated a statement from last week that Ottawa must “get out of our way” on the regulatory side and throw its support to “nation-building projects so we can build a more prosperous and secure future for Canada.
For close to two decades, Queen’s Park and Ottawa haven’t been on the same page when it comes to mineral development in the Far North in areas of regulatory permitting, project assessment, infrastructure and community funding, and achieving region-wide consensus from Indigenous communities.
“We can’t take 20 years putting every assessment every consultation in the world … and not get one shovel in the ground,” said Ford.
The premier levelled criticism at past federal governments for not investing in and building critical infrastructure, like cross-country oil and gas pipelines to move product to market and lessen Canada’s reliance on the U.S. market.
“We can build anything here in Canada.”
Ford said he’s further raising an issue with the feds on delivering on their pledge for a promised tax credit to Honda’s proposed $15-billion deal to build an electric vehicle and battery manufacturing complex in Alliston, north of Toronto, that will create 20,000 direct and indirect jobs. The southern Ontario development is a foundational piece of the Ford government’s electric vehicle supply chain strategy.
