One year ago this week, Doug Ford unveiled the anti-tariff ad that incurred the wrath of Donald Trump.
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that → unveil → Trump
Former deputy prime minister Chrystia Freeland was given an early look at that ad, she reveals in her new book, which also makes clear she was a fan of standing up to Trump that way, even if it did make the president angry.
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president → give → Trump
The advance peek came from Ford himself at a dinner party in Toronto, where Freeland was also among the guests, along with some other politicians and business leaders.
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Freeland → come → politicians
“We crowded around the coffee table and squinted at the small screen.
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We → crowd → screen
Over heroic images of combines harvesting golden fields of wheat and assembly lines producing gleaming cars, we heard Ronald Reagan’s familiar voice making the case for free trade,” Freeland writes.
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Freeland → harvest → trade
“Everyone loved it.
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Everyone → love → it
When Ford later came under pressure to pull the ad — including from Mark Carney — Freeland was cheering the premier on, trading text messages with him.
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Freeland → come → him
In one exchange, Ford sent her a photo of Reagan, with another quote from the late president: “When has deciding to settle for a draw ever kept a bully from starting another fight?”
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deciding → send → fight
During much of the writing of this book, titled “Unreliable Boyfriend,” Carney and Ford were in the midst of what seemed to be a good-cop/bad-cop routine with Trump.
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what → title → Trump
While the prime minister was keeping things diplomatic, the Ontario premier was talking tough.
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premier → keep → things
The ad tested the limits of the routine though, with Carney eventually apologizing for it and Ford begrudgingly pulling it, but only after it aired in the U.S. during the World Series.
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it → test → Series
Some Canadians were disappointed with the apology.
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Canadians → disappoint → apology
Freeland doesn’t come right out and say so, but her sympathies seem clear.
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sympathies → come → ?
Freeland and Ford forged a friendship during the pandemic, calling each other their therapists during late-night phone chats, as I wrote in 2020.
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I → forge → 2020
But it was more than loyalty to her friend that had Freeland on Ford’s side.
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that → have → side
Carney — her friend, godfather to one of her children and ultimately a leadership rival in early 2025 — gets only sparing mention in the book, and much of it is positive.
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much → get → it
Freeland likely didn’t want to be accused of criticizing from the sidelines.
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Freeland → want → sidelines
But she tactfully drops suggestions that maybe Carney could have been tougher with Trump in the early days.
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Carney → drop → days
“When my prime minister, who has taken great pains since our election to treat the president as a respected and valued partner, dropped Canada’s digital services tax on the tech sector, there was no gracious thank you from the White House.
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who → take → House
Instead, the president’s press secretary boasted that Canada had ‘caved’ in response to American demands,” she writes.
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she → boast → demands
Freeland takes a more direct poke at Goldy Hyder, the CEO of the Business Council of Canada, who was advocating for the Canadian government to hear the Trump administration out on its frustrations with Canada.
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government → take → Canada
“‘We have to hear what is being said’ is a milquetoast euphemism for surrender.
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what → hear → surrender
That is rarely an effective negotiating strategy,” Freeland writes.
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Freeland → write → ?
Freeland was at the centre of the trade battle with Trump during his first term, and she does brandish Trump’s enmity toward her — he’s called her “nasty” and “toxic” — as a badge of honour.
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he → brandish → honour
Carney, though, is dealing with a much emboldened Trump in the second term.
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Carney → deal → term
For now, the trade talks are suspended after Carney did walk away from surrendered sovereignty, and it’s unclear whether any approach, good cop or bad cop, is going to produce a new deal.
Freeland’s book is a plea to all those dealing with Trump to be the bad cop.
“The biggest problem with surrendering to White House bullying is that it helps make the case that trade really is a zero-sum game and that intimidation of your allies really does work,” she writes.
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she → suspend → allies
Freeland is a proud Ukrainian-Canadian, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and was appointed a special adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the beginning of this year.
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Freeland → appoint → year
She describes how Trump is approaching Ukraine as nothing short of a betrayal.
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Trump → describe → betrayal
While the initial headlines around this book will be focused on her falling-out with Justin Trudeau, which set events in motion for his resignation, much of the book is more forward-focused, on where she sees things running off the rails because of Trump.
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things → focus → Trump
As a former journalist, Freeland has documented that extensively.
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Freeland → document → that
As an ex-politician, she’s also arguing for outright resistance to Trump, not just by Canadian citizens and businesses, but by the government to which she once belonged — and notably, by the prime minister who’s now running it.
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who → argue → it
The Aporia
