Elon Musk and President Donald Trump may be feuding in an ugly public spat, but that won’t be enough to bring Starlink back to Ontario.
On Thursday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed that the province has no plans to restart a previously cancelled $100 million CAD satellite internet deal with Musk’s company, SpaceX. The project was originally intended to help connect 15,000 underserved homes and businesses in the province.
“Starlink is done,” Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park yesterday (via PCMag). “Are we surprised that they’re not seeing eye-to-eye? I predicted that as soon as that marriage happened. I thought there would be a divorce real quick.”
Ford said the province backed out of the Starlink contract in March as a response to Trump’s 25% tariff on Canadian exports. Musk’s vocal support of Trump at the time also didn’t help.
“I don’t want to deal with someone who’s attacking our country,” said Ford. “And he was one of the number one culprits, Elon Musk. That’s unacceptable. I can’t do business with someone that’s doing that.”
Tensions between Musk and Trump have escalated this week like a reality TV show going off the rails, but for Ontario, the damage was already done.
While the Ontario deal is still dead, Starlink announced yesterday it is giving free internet for one month to those affected by wildfires in Canada.
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Ford's knee jerk reaction was and is shortsighted.
Does he have an alternative option? No.
Who suffers from his decision? The 15,000 homes and businesses.
Not having access to internet in today's environment makes it very difficult to communicate or do any sort of business.
Imagine electing a clown and expecting anything different.
Pure comedy right here. I hope Musk's empire implodes and him and Trump right along with it. Eat the rich
Here's what I read: Affected by wildfire this season? Get your free one month trial on Starlink. ($140/mo, autobilled thereafter).