The current Alberta premier, a former talk-show host and lobbyist, similarly never seemed to have much in common with Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a business owner from a sort of political dynasty family. But both have often worn the “populist” tag; Ford and Smith gave direct payments to residents to ease the affordability crunch.

Until this week, there was generally chumminess and accord between the pair of conservative premiers from Canada’s oil province and from its manufacturing heartland. They’d even been the twin Canadian regulars on Fox Business and Fox News, both pitching to the U.S. conservative networks the ills of tariffs and the benefits of Canadian trade.

Then came this week, and their sharply different approaches and positions around the threat of Donald Trump’s tariffs and Canada’s own potential retaliations. That may owe partly to his and her own personalities and backgrounds, but it’s also rooted in their own backyards.

  • Hemingways_ShotgunEnglish
    8·
    4 days ago

    I hate Doug Ford at the best of times, but I have to admit, he’s kind of effective in terms of being a loud-mouthed asshole to clap back at their loud-mouthed asshole.

    • healthetank
      4·
      4 days ago

      My problem with Ford has never been that he doesn’t like Canada, or is a sellout. I honestly just feel like he’s a very average small/mid business owner here, who got himself elected and is treating it like he’d run his own business, which is decidedly NOT how a government should be run. He seems to think he can get away with stuff like the Greenbelt development, or push his own viewpoints like the wind turbine cancellations, which are exactly the kind of short sighted/backroom deal I’d expect from a small business person.

      That being said, I’d take him over Trump-esque any day.