FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
16 January 2026
TORONTO, ON. – Ontario Liberal Critic for Finance and Trade, MPP Stephanie Bowman, released the following statement in response to Canada and China’s new trade agreement:
Doug Ford is an armchair quarterback. He loves to tell everyone else what to do, while avoiding responsibility for what is actually within his control.
When it comes to trade and tariffs, Doug Ford’s entire contribution has been running a reckless ad campaign that blew up negotiations south of the border, theatrically pouring out a bottle of Crown Royal, and making empty threats. None of that protects a single job.
If Chinese electric vehicles are going to enter the Canadian market, then we must also work with Chinese EV companies to create good, strong, safe jobs for Ontario workers, which this deal opens the door to. Our unionized auto sector workers are the best in the world and are ready for the job.
With the U.S. administration continuing to threaten Canada – its largest trading partner – Canada must stand tall, take steps to diversify its trade, and work with other trade partners to strengthen Canada’s long-term economic prosperity.
Doug Ford is not protecting jobs. In 2018, he said he would create 300,000 manufacturing jobs; he has only created 28,000. After calling an early election, he launched the $5 billion “Protect Ontario Financing Fund” but has left $4 billion sitting unused while plants shut down, factories and mills close, and workers are left behind.
If Doug Ford was concerned about Ontario’s workers, he would invest in them by creating jobs now – by fixing our roads, bridges, and schools across the province; by investing in our youth and small businesses and cutting taxes. Instead, he turned the Skills Development Fund – a program meant to train workers and create jobs – into a slush fund for his friends and donors.
Doug Ford is more focused on helping his friends than helping Ontario workers, and his comments today are one more example of that.