Ontario Premier Doug Ford has canceled a $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s satellite internet company Starlink in response to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods. The contract, signed in November 2023, aimed to provide high-speed internet to 15,000 rural and remote homes and businesses in Ontario by summer 2025.
“We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country,” Ford said, confirming the cancellation. “It’s done, it’s gone.” This move is part of a broader retaliatory strategy by Ontario against the US tariffs, which Ford described as “catastrophic”.
The tariffs, imposed by Trump, include a 25% tariff on Canadian exports and a 10% tariff on Canadian energy. Ford has also announced a ban on all US-based companies from participating in future provincial contracts, citing tens of billions of dollars in potential lost revenue.
“We could have poured our efforts into making Canada and the US the two richest, most successful, safest, most secure two countries on the planet. Unfortunately, one man — President Trump — has chosen chaos instead,” Ford added, criticizing Trump’s trade policies.
The cancellation has raised concerns about internet access in remote communities. Sol Mamakwa, the Ontario NDP MPP for Kiiwetinoong, noted that those who have already subscribed to Starlink will not be affected, but the cancellation could leave many northern communities with fewer options for connectivity.
Ford has also threatened to cut off power to 1.5 million US customers and impose a 25% surcharge on electricity exports to New York, Michigan, and Minnesota if the trade war persists. “We need to be ready to dig in for a long fight. We need to be ready to escalate using every tool in our tool kit,” he warned ¹ ².
In a statement that further strained relations, Trump suggested Canada could avoid tariffs by becoming the US’s 51st state, a remark that drew sharp criticism from Ford and other Canadian leaders.