MARATHON — The ongoing tariff saga proves Premier Doug Ford was justified in calling an early election, Rick Dumas said Thursday.
Dumas, Marathon’s mayor, was the Progressive Conservative candidate for Thunder Bay-Superior North in the snap election Ford called for Feb. 27.
In the end, the NDP’s Lise Vaugeois kept her seat in the legislature while Dumas placed second.
But Ford’s PCs got another majority government – which is good for Ontario and Canada as the country faces an onslaught of tariffs from the U.S., Dumas told Newswatch.
Ford “has been a great leader within the provinces and Canada,” he said, adding that Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney “has done a great job too.”
“Hopefully we’ll have a great team for Canada” after the April 28 federal election, said Dumas.
“At this point we’ve got to be non-partisan within Canada and work together. That’s the only way we’ll get through this.”
The trade war being waged by U.S. President Donald Trump has been ever-changing. Wednesday, the president announced tariffs on products from dozens of countries but not Canada; a hefty auto tariff went into effect Thursday while other tariffs remain in effect or are being threatened.
That has Canada in a predicament where “we don’t know whether we’re coming or going,” Dumas remarked.
“We’re still being bombarded in some sectors,” he said.
“It’s devastating. I don’t understand it. I’m baffled.”
Instead of making the U.S. better, Dumas said, the tariffs will hurt the U.S. economy and make its residents poorer.
“Where is Trump getting all his information from? I can’t understand.”
As mayor of a town near both an operating gold mine and a palladium-copper project, Dumas noted that Trump tariffs raise the costs of mine operation and mine building.
Higher input costs could mean cutbacks and layoffs at mines across Canada — which would be "bad news for everyone," he said.
Also, he noted, “the cost of building a mine just went up” because of U.S. tariffs.
That could put projects in jeopardy, he said.
