Ontario Premier Doug Ford is thanking U.S. President Joe Biden for his 50 years in public service after he announced his intention to drop out of the 2024 election on Sunday.
However, Ford also said it was “pretty evident to everyone that it was time for him to move on.”
“I felt sorry for him, during the debate. It’s almost like, you know, even President Trump, he’s a tough dude, but he looked at [Biden] like, ‘Please throw in the towel,’” Ford said of Biden’s June debate against the Republican challenger, which raised questions about his fitness for office.
The comments, made at an unrelated news conference in Kitchener, Ont. on Monday, come less than 24 hours after Biden announced he would not seek re-election in November and threw his support behind Vice President Kamala Harris as the Democratic presidential nominee.
Ford emphasised that he doesn’t “care” who wins the election, so long as the next president treats Ontario, and Canada, fairly.
“The message to our American friends: We’re your ally. We aren’t your enemy. You know, we’re stronger together,” he said.
- Watch Ford’s remarks in the player above
The premier’s relationship with Trump during his tenure in the White House was testy at times, including one incident in August of 2020 when the then U.S. president threatened to impose a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian aluminum.
Ford called that tax, which was scrapped hours before Canada could introduce retaliatory measures, a “slap in the face,” at the time.
“You know, we went through this with President Trump last time, putting tariffs on everything, and once he found out that we’re the third largest trading partner in the world, Ontario alone…What happened? In three weeks, they pulled the tariffs off,” Ford recalled on Monday.