Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he’s focused on unity after facing intense criticism from within the federal Conservative party, as he called for the new Liberal government to speed up resource development and critical mineral approvals.
Mr. Ford responded on Tuesday to comments made by re-elected Conservative MP Jamil Jivani, who used his victory speech to accuse the Premier of sabotaging the federal campaign.
Mr. Ford, along with his campaign manager Kory Teneycke, publicly criticized the Tories during the campaign, saying the federal party didn’t pivot fast enough to address the threat of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
Speaking to reporters at Queen’s Park on Tuesday, Mr. Ford called for unity.
“I’m focusing on unity right across this country. We have to bring this country together like we never have before. Each other are not the enemies,” Mr. Ford said.
“There’s one person that’s causing a real problem – not just here, around the world – and that’s President Trump.”
The Premier repeated his call for the re-elected Liberal government to speed up and streamline approvals for critical mineral projects and pipelines in the face of U.S. aggression.
Lawrence Martin: Doug Ford is acting like he wants Pierre Poilievre to lose
Tensions between the federal Tories and Mr. Ford’s Progressive Conservatives were on full display Monday night.
In an interview with CBC News, Mr. Jivani – who once served as an adviser to the Premier – called Mr. Ford unprincipled and an opportunist, and said he surrounds himself with “goons.”
“I think Doug Ford is a problem for Ontario and for Canada,” Mr. Jivani told CBC after his victory in the Toronto-area riding of Bowmanville-Oshawa North.
He went on to accuse Mr. Ford of being “a hype man for the Liberal Party,” a jab that risks deepening the already frayed relationship between the two camps.
“He’s taken the provincial conservative party and turned into something hollow,” Mr. Jivani said.
In Ontario, the federal Conservatives were on track to win 53 seats, compared to 69 for the Liberals. The Conservatives flipped 14 seats – 11 of them from the Liberals. The Liberals flipped four – three from the Conservatives.
Mr. Ford told reporters Tuesday he doesn’t give “two hoots” about political stripes and will work with anyone who benefits his province. The federal Conservatives also earned more than a million additional votes in Ontario than Mr. Ford’s party did in the February election, but the provincial party won 80 seats.
“I focus on making sure that we win the seats. In our democratic process, we count seats – we don’t count votes,” Mr. Ford said.
The strain between the two conservative parties was apparent from the moment the federal campaign launched in March.
Mr. Teneycke said in a discussion at the Empire Club of Canada that Mr. Poilievre was on track to lose the election.
Contrasting the federal campaign strategy with Mr. Ford’s, he said the Premier had sought a mandate from voters to stand up to Mr. Trump. Mr. Poilievre, by contrast, had not really addressed the biggest issue in the campaign, which was the threat posed by Mr. Trump’s tariffs, according to Mr. Teneycke.
He also said Mr. Poilievre has “basic unlikability” issues and that his campaign slogan, “Canada First,” was an echo of a Trump slogan.
Then, on a podcast in early April, Mr. Teneycke said the Poilievre camp had committed “campaign malpractice” at the highest level for squandering a 20-plus-point lead in the polls. He added that the campaign would be studied for decades as an example of a disaster.
Mr. Poilievre’s campaign manager, Jenni Byrne, has long been considered a force in Conservative politics and worked with Mr. Teneycke in the years when the party was led by Stephen Harper.
Mr. Ford and Mr. Poilievre have never been close, and Mr. Ford defended his campaign manager when he was criticized for taking shots at the federal campaign strategy.
“Sometimes the truth hurts,” Mr. Ford said. “To be very frank, if Kory was running that campaign, I don’t think Mr. Poilievre would be in the position he’s in right now.”
In an interview with Politico published Monday, Mr. Ford said he had joked with Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston that a recent video posted on social media was an attempt by the latter to introduce himself as a future federal leadership contender.
“Selling himself for leadership, that’s what I figure. I busted his chops. I said: ‘Can’t you wait till the body gets cold first?’” Mr. Ford was quoted as saying.
In the interview Mr. Ford also wondered why Mr. Poilievre does not have stronger relationships with elected conservative politicians at municipal and provincial levels across the country.
“It’s his campaign manager, Jenni Byrne, in my opinion. But he’s still the boss, right?”
During the campaign, federal Conservatives largely sidestepped questions about Mr. Ford’s lack of support.
A graduate of Yale Law School, where he befriended future U.S. Vice-President JD Vance, Mr. Jivani worked as an activist and professor before entering politics.
He once worked for Mr. Ford as a special adviser and the province’s first Advocate for Community Opportunities but resigned in 2022 after criticizing the government’s pandemic policies. He first won federal office in 2024, winning a by-election for the riding of Durham, much of which has been redistributed into Bowmanville–Oshawa North.
With a report from Chen Wang in Toronto
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