Ontario Premier Doug Ford is urging his provincial counterparts to ramp up retaliatory measures against tariffs imposed on Canadian goods by President Donald Trump.
On Monday, Ontario placed a surcharge of 25 per cent on electricity exported to 1.5 million homes in three U.S. states.
In particular, Ford urged Alberta, which sends about four million barrels of oil per day to the United States, to look at similar moves.
“A message to Premier (Danielle) Smith: one day, I think you might have to use that trump card and give approval for an export tax,” he said.
“You want to talk about a trump card? That will instantly change the game, instantly, when the Americans — and I know the Americans — all of a sudden their gas prices go up 90 (cents) to $1 a gallon.
“They will lose their minds, so we need to at least put that in the window.”
Smith has said Alberta needs to take action, but she won’t curtail or impose counter-tariffs on oil and gas shipments, as it could escalate retribution from the U.S. and hurt Canadians.
On Monday, she maintained her stance.
“Let me clear… Alberta will never agree to such an absurd and self destructive idea,” Smith said Monday in a statement posted to her social media.
“It’s not an option. I’m not going to agree to do something that will cost hundreds of thousands of Albertans (and Canadians) their jobs almost overnight.”
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Smith said an export tax on oil and gas “would be like placing export tariffs on Ontario auto parts. Also a bad idea.”
Smith continued to press for Alberta and the federal government to work together to pressure Trump to change course, but reiterated oil export taxes are not on the table.
Last week, Alberta joined other provinces and the federal government in pushing ahead with trade sanctions despite Thursday’s partial rollback from the White House.
Smith said Alberta is no longer buying American liquor or VLTS, or signing contracts with American companies. Alberta estimates $292 million in U.S. liquor products were sold in the province in 2023-24.
The Alberta government is also looking to prioritize purchases from Canadian companies or companies from countries that don’t violate trade agreements.
The tariff timeline back-and-forth confuses Canadians and Americans alike, Smith said last week, and has only led to volatile market shifts and investment uncertainty.
She says Alberta will look to export more oil and gas to other countries until U.S. President Donald Trump “comes back to reality.”
Ford said Ontario’s electricity surcharge will add an estimated $100 per month to the average bills of affected American ratepayers, and it will generate $300,000 to $400,000 in revenue for the province each day. Ontario will use that money to reduce electricity bills for ratepayers in the province, Ford said.
“Believe me when I say I do not want to do this,” Ford said Monday at a press conference.
“I feel terrible for the American people, because it’s not the American people who started this trade war. It’s one person who’s responsible — that’s President Trump.”
Ontario said it could increase or decrease the electricity surcharge amount at any time in response to actions by the U.S. government.
Ford’s declaration comes the same week Smith and her Energy Minister Brian Jean are in Houston, Texas to promote Alberta as “the answer to long-term, global energy security” at the CERAWeek conference, one of the world’s biggest energy conferences. They are set to meet with industry leaders and international government officials, and speak on some panels.
— with files from the Canadian Press
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