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Ontario Premier Doug Ford delivered a commencement speech at a U.S. university Saturday, touching on the close ties between Canadians and Americans, as well as the risk imposed by tariffs.
Dressed in a black cap and gown, Ford addressed hundreds of graduating students at Saginaw Valley State University’s (SVSU) commencement ceremony in University Center, Michigan, located about 150 kilometres northwest of Detroit.
Throughout his address, Ford touched on the strained relationship between Canada and the U.S., even going as far as quoting a former president.
“Just listen to what the great U.S. President Ronald Reagan, had to say about countries that impose tariffs: ‘Markets shrink and collapse, businesses and industries shut down and millions of people lose their jobs,'” said Ford.
“That’s what we risk in the U.S. and Canada if we don’t get back to working together.”
He also referenced working for his family printing business and rise in politics to highlight the importance of teamwork, relationships and loyalty.
“These are the attributes that will make you succeed. Just as they made our two great countries succeed, working together for so many decades,” he said.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s government paid around $75 million to air this ad, featuring remarks from former president Ronald Reagan, on U.S. television stations — a move that has angered President Donald Trump.
His speech comes just months after the province spent $75 million on an anti-tariff U.S. ad campaign that resulted in President Donald Trump halting trade talks with Canada.
Trade talks resumed last month when Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington, D.C.
Ford also received an honorary doctorate of humane letters from the university Saturday.
The university’s president, George Grant Jr., called the premier a friend and thanked him for fostering strong relations in the Great Lakes region, on both sides of the border.
Canada-U.S. relationship has been ‘shaken and undermined’: Ford
CBC News reached out to SVSU on why Ford was chosen as the commencement speaker and for more information on the honorary doctorate.
Ford himself addressed the question many may be wondering about “why a Canadian politician is [in Michigan] today delivering [U.S. students their] commencement address.”
“Like many Canadians, I’ve spent years living and working in the United States,” he said, adding he spent 20 years establishing his family’s printing business in Chicago.
Ford went on to credit his brother Rob for his start in politics and for his cellphone policy.
He said Rob would answer calls day and night from constituents as councillor and mayor. That openness and easy access has also helped garner him success in politics, said Ford.
Ontario recently passed an omnibus budget bill that included a retroactive FOI law that would shield Ford and cabinet members — along with their offices — from public access to documents, with Ford admitting that part of the rationale is to kill a request from Global News to obtain his cellphone records.
Ford wrapped up his address by speaking on the “shaken and undermined” relationship between the two bordering countries over the past year and a half.
“Protectionism has never worked in the history of the world and it won’t work now,” he said.
He praised the close ties between Ontario and Michigan in the auto manufacturing industry but said that partnership has been tested by “tariffs and trade wars.”
He urged graduates to go out into the world building their lives on the principles of teamwork, good relationships and loyalty. Those values also helped the U.S. and Canada forge a strong bond over many decades, said Ford.
“Our economies are too closely linked,” he said. “We can’t unscramble that egg. We can only make the omelet larger.”
Ford spoke a second time at the university during the afternoon ceremony Saturday.
Saginaw Valley State University is a public university in University Centre, Michigan founded in 1963.