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Despite video showing them metres apart in Toronto, Doug Ford’s spokesperson says the Ontario Premier and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre did not meet over the weekend.
“I don’t believe they met at the event,” Ivana Yelich, Mr. Ford’s deputy chief of staff for media, stakeholder relations and forward planning, said in an e-mail on Tuesday.
The event in question was the Toronto Caribbean festival where a video posted on X, the former Twitter, shows the two men, among Canada’s most prominent conservatives, at the festival on Saturday. The video, from Global news journalist Ahmar Khan, is here.
Asked about the video, Ms. Yelich wrote in an e-mail on Tuesday, “There is no interaction in that video.”
She did not elaborate on whether the pair had a subsequent meeting or indeed whether they have ever had an official meeting.
Mr. Poilievre’s office did not respond, on Tuesday, to a Globe and Mail query about the encounter.
The situation comes amid questions about a possible rift between federal Conservatives and their provincial counterparts, the Progressive Conservatives in Ontario. Ontario, with its 120 seats, is seen as a key battleground for the next federal election, and Conservative political fortunes hinge on making gains there.
After the PCs were defeated in the Ottawa-area Kanata-Carleton by-election last month, an unnamed senior Conservative said the federal party ruled out sending volunteers to help the PCs because the provincial party wouldn’t help their federal counterparts in a June by-election in the Ontario riding of Oxford. The federal Conservatives eventually won the riding. Posting here.
Mr. Ford has been in sync with the federal Liberals on various issues, including support for electric vehicles technology. In July, the federal and Ontario governments reached a deal with Stellantis NV and LG Energy Solution for up to $15-billion in subsidies for their electric-vehicle battery factory in Windsor. The agreement ended a months-long saga in which the companies halted construction on the project while they pushed for greater financial backing. Story here.
Mr. Ford has also praised Chrystia Freeland, the Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
Last year, Mr. Ford said neither he nor members of his PC caucus would get involved in the national Conservative leadership race that ended up electing Mr. Poilievre in a landslide. And, in 2021, the Ontario Premier’s office told his cabinet ministers not to campaign for Erin O’Toole, then the federal Conservative leader, and to refrain from posting about interactions with federal candidates on social media. Story here.
In May, eight months after he became leader, Mr. Poilievre met with Quebec Premier François Legault.
