Ford launches campaign in Windsor with promise of support for workers impacted by tariffs

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford kicked off his campaign for re-election on Wednesday at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont., asking voters for a new and stronger mandate to try to stave off crippling tariffs threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump and to steer Ontario's economy through the economic devastation that would accompany tariffs.

He committed to spending tens of billions of dollars to keep people working and retrain them if necessary.

"It's going to be painful on both sides, but we'll get through this," Ford said. 

"We'll make sure that we use every tool in our toolbox to protect Ontario families, protect Ontario workers, businesses and communities."

Speaking just minutes after a bald eagle took flight from a perch on the Detroit River, Ford told reporters he couldn't think of a better place than the border city to kick off his campaign.

The news conference, happening beside Canada's busiest commercial border crossing with the United States, helped him frame the election on the issue of tariffs.

But he was short on answers to questions about other challenges facing the region.

CBC asked the PC leader about complaints from city hall that provincial policies prevent city council from blocking developments that neighbourhoods oppose.

Ford instead spoke about the PC government's record of providing infrastructure funding to the city, cutting red tape and regulations and speeding up the process of building homes. 

Radio-Canada asked Ford about demands to address homelessness in southwestern Ontario and to increase shelter funding.

Ford said the government had spent tens of millions of dollars sheltering and feeding unhoused people in the region and added that it is also spending tens of millions training them.

"The best thing we can do for them is get them a good paying job," he said. 

At one point during the question and answer period, a voice in the background could be heard yelling "One more voice for Windsor West," a reference to the PC's desire to unseat Lisa Gretzky, the incumbent and Windsor West NDP candidate, to score a PC sweep for the region.

Windsor West PC candidate Tony Francis dodged reporters' attempts to ask him questions Wednesday. 

Andrew Dowie, the incumbent and Windsor-Tecumseh PC candidate, said that Ford's presence in Windsor signals that he understands the city's economy and will fight for it "just like he fought for NextStar."

'He came through for us'

"He came through for us," Dowie said. "He's going to continue to come through for us, and this is a demonstration that he's in our corner."

Ford is a businessman who worked in the U.S. and understands the landscape, Dowie said.

"He understands what people in the United States are looking for and their fears and concerns," he said. "He's in the best position of all the leaders to respond to the tariff threat and ensure that Ontario is represented in a way that gets to a win-win deal."

Both Ford and Dowie pointed to the new Windsor Hospital and Highway 3 expansion as examples of things the government has gotten done for the region.

But outside the news conference protesters drew attention to healthcare and education.

The president of the Windsor and District Labour Council accused Ford of using the tariffs as a distraction from his performance on those files.

"What our members are saying is we need help in the classroom," said Mario Spagnuolo, the interim president of the Greater Essex Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario.

"What we're hearing from nurses and healthcare workers is we need help in the hospitals. We need help in the clinic. … We have ER's that have been shut down under this government's watch."

Spagnuolo called Ford the equivalent of Donald Trump in Ontario and said that if voters give him another mandate, they will see "a very different province."

One person carried a sign that read "We Can Not Afford This Anymore" and told CBC she hates what Ford has done to health care and long-term care.

And JoAnn Chapman said she's angry Ford is spending millions on an election.

"That could have been put into healthcare," she said of the funds.