Canada

DOUG FORD MIGHT BE the luckiest politician alive. One must wonder, at some point, where he’s keeping all the horseshoes.

When he called an unnecessary $189 million election in late January, there were warnings he could face the same fate as former Liberal premier David Peterson, who went to the polls early and lost his government and his seat in 1990. As Donald Trump’s February 1 tariff threat edged closer—raising fears that the shock to Ontario’s auto and agri-food sectors could drag the province, and Canada, into recession—Ford’s risky bet looked more like a masterstroke.

Threatening to shut off power to homes in New York, Michigan, and Minnesota, Ford pressed the rest of Canada to return fire at scale. He even donned a hat that read “Canada is not for sale.” It was embarrassing, aping Trump’s style and strategy, but people ate it up, and there was something to it. Ford was standing up for the federation, pleading the province and country’s case. It was almost reassuring.

For more discerning readers of the news, the irony isn’t lost that Ford’s election call makes it harder for him and his government to deal with Trump and his tariff threat. Billing themselves as sound economic managers, a steady hand for an unsteady time, the Progressive Conservatives promised to invest billions into Ontario businesses affected by any disruptions. Great news, but it would have been better had there been no election—in which case Ford could have passed the package through the legislature with his majority. Indeed, he could have focused all of his time on managing the crisis rather than campaigning on it.