SASKATOON—Ontario is considering firing back at U.S. Buy America provisions with its own measures to protect companies here, Premier Doug Ford said as a meeting of provincial leaders from across Canada was wrapping up.“We’re looking into that right now,” Ford said Thursday morning in his first one-on-one interview with the Star since taking office more than a year ago.The issue has become all the more urgent given Bombardier’s announcement that it plans to lay off half of its workforce — or 550 employees — at its Thunder Bay railcar facility, which its president has blamed on American protectionist policies.“We have to make sure we protect our interests, similar to what the Americans are doing, south of the border,” Ford said. “We do, right now, $390 billion (Cdn) of two-way trade — Ontario alone.”On Wednesday, he said Buy America is “killing” Canadian businesses as contracts in the United States dry up.The country’s 13 provincial and territorial leaders, who have been in Saskatchewan since Tuesday for the annual summer meeting of the Council of the Federation, are a “large group of new premiers, and we just seem to be hitting it off — all of us,” Ford said. “And it’s going to be a very strong voice moving the provinces forward.”The premiers are also publicly pressuring the federal government to be tougher with the U.S. on Buy America legislation, which forces large infrastructure and airline projects that receive federal funding to have high levels of U.S. content or manufactured goods.Read more:Premiers call on federal government to fight harder against Buy America provisionsOntario and Ottawa trade blame over Bombardier layoffsG20 drops pledge to fully oppose trade protectionism amid Trump pushback“The biggest issue right now on trade is Buy America,” Ford said. “That’s what’s hurting manufacturing compani ...
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