Ontario Premier Doug Ford has put the province’s $100 million Starlink satellite internet contract back on the chopping block as trade tensions with the U.S. escalate.
Speaking at a press conference, Ford said Ontario is prepared to retaliate against U.S. tariffs set to take effect on March 4. The Premier had previously backed off cancelling the SpaceX Starlink deal after former U.S. President Donald Trump delayed the tariff deadline. But with no further extensions in sight, Ontario is reconsidering its stance.
“Then we’re going to cancel Starlinks right away from Elon Musk,” Ford said, emphasizing that while $100 million may not impact Musk, the decision is about principle.
The move is part of a broader push by Ford to prioritize Ontario-made goods and hit back at U.S. trade policies. He also announced plans to ban U.S. alcohol from the LCBO, Ontario’s government-run liquor retailer, and redirect $30 billion in procurement spending to Ontario and Canadian suppliers.
Ford’s comments come as Canada braces for new U.S. tariffs, which could strain cross-border trade. “We have two choices,” Ford said. “We roll over, or we fight like hell.”
The Ontario government has not yet confirmed a timeline for officially cancelling the Starlink deal, but Ford’s latest remarks signal a renewed commitment to taking action as trade tensions escalate.
When asked by a reporter if there was “any room left for Canada and Mexico to make a deal before midnight?”, President Trump said, “No room left for Mexico or for Canada. No. The tariffs you know, they’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow.”
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Elon probably doesn't even notice he's out $100M.
Do you think Tesla stockprice dropping 28% in February alone might catch his attention?
No considering it's still higher than it was 6 months ago. I do think we need more EV options in Canada to help bring the prices down, but we can do that without Tesla.
Good, invest in our own infrastructure / solutions. Great more jobs at the same time.
Which we should have done years ago. I dont understand why some of us Canadians act like we are doing so good. While yes buying Canadian is great, we should have been supporting local and domestic the entire time. However, why did it require us to be backed against the wall, threatned with tariffs to even begin looking at building more infrastructure and reallocating our resources… we should have been doing that from the very beginning or along the way.
We should have also purchased Canadian oil from Alberta for years now but no… that's not environmental friendly, buy it from the Arabs instead
I'm all for supporting Canada and Canadian businesses but we might only be hurting the people in remote areas who have been waiting to be connected.
15,000 customers are waiting to be connected and plus many more in other remote areas of Canada where legacy means are shutdown.
We have been waiting on an alternative and it could take years as Telesat isn't scheduled to deploy its first LEO satellites until mid 2026.
Leave the deal with Starlink alone for now and make plans for future investments.
So we paid The Beer Store over 200 million to end a contract 4 months early but 100 million for rural communities to get internet access is just too much. Before you go all The Beer Store is Ontario owned it isn't, not even close.