Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Ontario Premier Doug Ford trades insults with Trump, tells him to 'kiss my ass'

Transcript

Ontario Premier Doug Ford trades insults with Trump, tells him to 'kiss my ass' · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: This morning while on Toronto radio station News Talk 1010.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Doug Ford was asked about this latest terror threat from
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: the U.S. Take a listen.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: Well, he can kiss my ass as far as I'm concerned.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: We're going to go at him full steam. And we
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: buy 400% more cars than anyone in the world. Maybe
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: I have an idea. We'll get Daniel Smith on board
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: so the cars that they're manufacturing won't be able to
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: fill up because we'll be controlling the oil and the
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: gas going down there. And maybe what we should be
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: doing is charging him triple on the oil, triple on
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the potash, on the uranium, on our metals.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: This energy threat seemed to catch the attention of the U.S. president,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: who not too long after that interview posted on Truth
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: Social saying lots of bluster from Doug Ford, who is
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: the premier of the Canadian province of Ontario, but who
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: is better known as the less charismatic, intelligent, and overall
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: unimpressive brother of the late, great Rob Ford. Trump went
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: on to say without the United States, Canada couldn't survive.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: It's where they get all of their money, and because
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: of their current bad leadership, primarily Governor Carney and his
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: flunky Ford, they will not be allowed to take advantage
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: of the United States. Now, this was posted in the
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: middle of a press conference while Ford was taking questions.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Ford was asked about these jabs from the president and
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: things got personal.
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: I don't respond to a dictator like President Trump, a
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: bully like President Trump. He's the type of guy in
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: school that would take your lunch money one day, take
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: your toque off your your head the next day and
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: then steal your running shoes. I'm not going to take
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: any advice off a guy that's the king of bankruptcies.
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: You know, your own people, President Trump, don't even like you.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: And they're going to speak loud and clear when it
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: comes to the midterms. And if I was allowed to,
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: I'd be down there door knocking. I've dealt with guys
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: like you my whole life. And guess what? You all
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: become losers because you're a loser. I have more courage,
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: more brains in my baby toe than he has in
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: his whole body. I've been in this game a lot
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: longer than he has. I got skin on me like
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: an alligator. And you think an insult from him hurts me? Well,
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: bring it on, buddy.
• 2:06
  Speaker 4: I'm ready.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Bring it on. I have a lot of real estate
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: on my ass, so he has a lot of room
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: to kiss my ass.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Rob, it's getting it's getting quite ugly.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:17
  Speaker 5: Inviting the president of the United States to to I
• 2:23
  Speaker 5: guess post the peck on his posterior was not on
• 2:26
  Speaker 5: my bingo card this morning.
• 2:28
  Speaker 3: In any normal world, in the normal world.
• 2:31
  Speaker 5: If we weren't in the parallel universe, they would probably
• 2:34
  Speaker 5: be kindred spirits. We have two unusually flaxen-haired populist conservatives
• 2:42
  Speaker 5: who are very good at articulating complex things in very
• 2:49
  Speaker 5: simple ways that connect with people.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: Sure.
• 2:52
  Speaker 5: The question we have to ask ourselves again is, what
• 2:56
  Speaker 5: is the aim here? Is the aim to come to
• 3:00
  Speaker 5: an agreement or is the aim to torch the relationship?
• 3:04
  Speaker 5: And I don't know that either one of the men
• 3:07
  Speaker 5: in that exchange were trying to move towards a negotiating table.
• 3:11
  Speaker 5: We have to remember, however. Ontario bears the disproportionate burden
• 3:16
  Speaker 5: of these tariffs. There is an existential threat to the
• 3:21
  Speaker 5: industrial base of Ontario. That's an existential political threat to
• 3:25
  Speaker 5: Doug Ford and his Conservative government as well. We have
• 3:28
  Speaker 5: to keep that in mind when we think about the
• 3:30
  Speaker 5: emotion coming from Doug Ford.
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: Kate, do you think Premier Ford is hurting or helping
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the Canadian cause with rhetoric like that?
• 3:37
  Speaker 4: I mean, you're dealing with a really thin-skinned person in
• 3:40
  Speaker 4: the White House. I don't think name-calling... to Rob's point,
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: is how you get back to the table. And it
• 3:47
  Speaker 4: seems to me that a number of premiers, not just
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: Premier Ford, but a number of premiers are prioritizing the
• 3:54
  Speaker 4: political high and the dopamine hit of hitting back against
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: Donald Trump over what might be in the best interest
• 4:01
  Speaker 4: of their province. There's something else that I think the
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: premiers in particular need to be very careful about doing,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: and that's putting on the table for countermeasures or threats
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: around energy supply assets and resources for which they do
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: not control. If Daniel Smith had suggested publicly that removal
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: of the French language packaging, labelling, requirements, anything really to
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: do with Quebec cultural sovereignty, was on the table and
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: something that the Prime Minister should consider, premiers would rightly
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: be outraged. I think it is irresponsible... to ask Daniel
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: Smith and Scott Moe to leverage their own energy assets
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: without considering what's those in your own province. That's how
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: you have more division in this country and not how
• 4:48
  Speaker 4: you try to get back to the table and approach
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: things in a unified manner.
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: And they've repeatedly ruled it out, right? Like this is
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: not the first time Ford has floated this idea. And
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: they say that's just not, it's not going to work.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: It's a non-starter for us. Vandana, what do you think
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the prime minister's office thinks of this heated rhetoric from
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: Doug Ford? Do you think that they're cheering him on?
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: They're happy about him going toe to toe with Trump
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: and saying he's a loser and the king of bankruptcies?
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: Or are they quite concerned about the prospect of Ford
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: again poking the bear?
• 5:18
  Speaker 6: I mean, concerned, I wouldn't say because they're focused on
• 5:21
  Speaker 6: like what is next right now. But I don't think
• 5:24
  Speaker 6: they're cheering him on. Like, I don't think they're going
• 5:26
  Speaker 6: to see this as helpful. I think, you know, Doug
• 5:28
  Speaker 6: Ford has had a number of political issues that have
• 5:31
  Speaker 6: come up that have hurt his polling numbers. But he
• 5:33
  Speaker 6: was really strong when he first came out as Captain Canada,
• 5:36
  Speaker 6: when the terrorists first came to rise. So I think
• 5:39
  Speaker 6: he's trying to pull that again. I did think he
• 5:41
  Speaker 6: went a step too far. And, you know, we know
• 5:43
  Speaker 6: what has happened when he put his ad up as well.
• 5:46
  Speaker 6: While fighting the Americans on the trade pieces and the
• 5:50
  Speaker 6: economy is fine, and I think he is going to
• 5:52
  Speaker 6: do that, and while he may feel like he's speaking
• 5:55
  Speaker 6: the way Ontarians feel, most Ontarians don't have a mic
• 5:59
  Speaker 6: that can get to Donald Trump in that same way.
• 6:01
  Speaker 6: And there is impact there. So anything that makes it
• 6:04
  Speaker 6: difficult for Canada and the U.S. to come together as
• 6:08
  Speaker 6: allies again or to find ways to work together, given
• 6:10
  Speaker 6: the economy, I get. The auto sector is a huge
• 6:14
  Speaker 6: piece of this. But at the same time, going that far,
• 6:18
  Speaker 6: I think, to this president can do something that can
• 6:22
  Speaker 6: damage relations. So I don't think anyone's cheering it on.
• 6:25
  Speaker 6: You know, I don't think that is helpful. And I
• 6:27
  Speaker 6: do agree with Kate's point that bringing in resources from
• 6:30
  Speaker 6: other provinces isn't going to help the Federation. I think,
• 6:32
  Speaker 6: you know, premiers are united right now. But if they
• 6:35
  Speaker 6: start mudslinging and trying to point their sector over someone
• 6:39
  Speaker 6: else's sector, you know, that's not going to help Prime
• 6:41
  Speaker 6: Minister Carney to get a final answer to this in
• 6:45
  Speaker 6: the end.