OTTAWA — Ontario Premier Doug Ford says Canada’s premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet in person in Saskatchewan on June 1 and 2.
Ford, who took part in a conference call with Carney and the other premiers May 8, said the premiers congratulated the prime minister on both his election victory and the “restraint” he showed during Tuesday’s meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump.
“I don’t think I’d have the restraint that he had yesterday, to be very frank,” Ford said. “I think it’s a good start on a new relationship… I think everyone’s feeling relatively good on the meeting yesterday. So that’s a good start.”
Carney spoke with the premiers to brief them on his first meeting with Trump.
That briefing also happened after Alberta Premier Danielle Smith publicly raised the spectre of her province separating from Canada.
Last week, Smith’s United Conservative government introduced legislation that, if passed, would sharply reduce the bar petitioners need to meet to trigger a provincial referendum.
Ford said Carney did “a really good job” of reaching out to the West and that he told the prime minister it’s time his government started “showing some love” to Saskatchewan and Alberta.
“The last prime minister showed no love,” Ford said. “So it’s nice that we’re heading out there to Saskatchewan for an FMM meeting.”
When asked about Premier Smith’s referendum legislation during a press conference in Washington, Carney said Canada is stronger when the provinces work together.
“As an Albertan, I firmly believe that,” he said. “You can always ask a question, but I know what I would respond clearly.”
Ford criticized talk of Alberta separating and said Canada must be united in its fight against the United States.
“This is a time to unite the country, not people saying, ‘Oh, I’m leaving the country,'” he said.
Asked if any premiers on the conference call cautioned Smith about the timing of a referendum, given the talk of annexation coming from the White House, Ford said “no one brought that up” but the subject might come up in “a private conversation.”
Ford said the premiers also talked about breaking down interprovincial trade barriers. While Carney has said his government would table legislation by July 1 to allow goods to travel across the country barrier-free, Ford said he wants the premiers to get together and sign memorandums of understanding.
“Even Danielle, we’re texting back and forth and she wants to sign an MOU too,” Ford said.
Ford said Carney asked all the premiers to pass on their five priorities for large national infrastructure projects.
“We’re fighting the tariffs and we just want to get projects moving forward as quickly as possible,” Ford said.
Carney and Trump spent about two hours together at the White House, including about half an hour in front of the cameras in the Oval Office.
It was their first face-to-face discussion of U.S.-Canada relations and Trump’s ongoing trade war.
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew sent Carney a letter pitching federal-provincial partnership on several “nation-building” projects.
They include creating a trade corridor through the Port of Churchill, establishing Indigenous “fair trade zones” and developing critical minerals infrastructure. In his letter, Kinew called his province “the Costco of critical minerals.”
Kinew said Manitoba “stands ready to collaborate” with the prime minister and other provinces and territories to “build a stronger Canada on projects of national interest.”
Carney and Trump appeared to emerge from the White House meeting pleased with how it had gone. Trump indicated he liked Carney and that there had been no tension during their talks.
Carney said that while he and Trump are now “fully engaged,” there’s “a lot more work to do.”
Carney said he and Trump agreed to talk further in the coming weeks and will meet in person again when the prime minister hosts the G7 leaders at a summit in Alberta from June 15 to 17.
“Really, today marked the end of the beginning of a process of the United States and Canada redefining that relationship of working together,” Carney said.
“The question is how we will co-operate in the future. How we can build an economic and security relationship built on mutual respect, built on common interests, that delivers transformational benefits to our economies.”
Carney said he and Trump met as the leaders of “sovereign nations” and he told the president more than once that Canadians will never be interested in becoming Americans.
©2025 The Canadian Press
Recent Comments