Ford isn't apologizing for his ad, he and Carney are on the rocks and Ben Mulroney may be onto something...

Plus, interesting news when it comes to Toronto politics and our mayor.

If you thought Doug Ford would apologize or be contrite in any way over his ad that saw trade talks with Donald Trump get derailed, think again. Ford called the ad the most successful in North American history during Question Period at Queen’s Park and then came out to speak to reporters about this.

You can hear me ask the first cheeky question to Ford, then listen to his answer.

In his answer to me, Ford claimed more than 1 billion impressions.

It was a lot more than 1 billion impressions.

“Through our initial ad buy of $75 million it was estimated the reach would be 1 billion impressions. Through earned media and social impressions, the reach over the past seven days has been an estimated 11.4 billion impressions.”

Of course, now that the ads are paused, Ontario will never get close to spending $75 million. This ad campaign was supposed to run from October through to January 31 across a long list of stations and networks.

• Fox (Fox News, Fox Sports)

• NBC (including local affiliates)

• Comcast (on local/regional stations)

• Spectrum (on local/regional stations)

• Sinclair Group (on local TV stations)

• CBS (would include local affiliates)

• CNBC (including local affiliates)

• ESPN & ABC (including local affiliates)

If I get a sense of how many tax dollars were spent, I will let you know. Right now the exit package for the ad buy is being negotiated through the buying agency.

All that said, for a fraction of the cost, Ontario did get a much bigger audience than they were expecting. The coverage on CNN compared to Fox News was very different, but both of them were talking about this over the past several days and the coverage on social media was off the charts.

So by that metric, it was a success. By other metrics, not so much.

Love on the rocks for Carney and Ford…

I wrote a little while back that the bromance between Prime Minister Mark Carney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford was on the rocks. Well, as my friend likes to say, you can listen to BLill now, or catch up next week because these two, despite public claims aren’t singing from the same songbook anymore.

Yes, the ad has something to do with it.

Ford wants to fight Trump and take a tough stance, Carney doesn’t. Ford’s ad has clearly caused Carney headaches, though claims a deal was close to being signed are questionable at best.

Carney told reporters in Malaysia that talks were progressing well, my sources dispute this, and then the Ford ad derailed everything. Now, Carney was smart enough not to publicly pick a fight with Ford, but he did make the ad claim.

Now, Carney’s team is leaking about Ford and saying his anti-Trump rhetoric is being raised by the Americans. Who else would know about this? Who else would have a reason to put this in the public domain via CBC - the favourite media outlet of the Liberal government.

Cui bono? Who benefits?

Clearly, it’s the Carney Liberals trying to gently put Ford in his place. Ford for his part won’t go quietly into that good night, he’s going to rage, rage well into the night.

The premier had his own pushback during his scrum with reporters today and clearly said that he won’t roll over.

As I’ve said before, somewhere between Ford’s decision to act like a walking Irish bar brawl picking fights with Trump and Carney being effusive with praise in the White House is the sweet spot we should be looking for.

Ben Mulroney may be onto something…

Interesting take from Ben Mulroney the other day on why Trump went from saying on Tuesday he’d be running the same ad if he were running Canada to freaking out by Thursday.

He thinks it’s over the case headed to the Supreme Court.

Having read Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act, I’m not sure he’s right that Trump will lose. The law gives the president broad powers to enact tariffs and despite the lower court ruling saying the tariffs were illegal, the Supreme Court in Washington is dominated by Republicans, so unless John Roberts flips, I don’t see Trump losing.

Then again, maybe Ben is right.

Change coming to Toronto politics…

Is Toronto set to be done with its bat flipping, costume wearing, dancing and karaoke singing mayor?

Most of you reading this don’t live in Toronto, but everyone in Canada has an opinion about Toronto. From my experience, the feelings towards Toronto tend towards hatred, especially regarding our city politics.

Two stories about Toronto city politics on our front page today including crazy spending on a foreign junket and the attempt to hide what was really spent. The other story was about a poll on the mayor’s race which isn’t good news for Mayor Olivia Chow.

As I point out in my Sun column, Chow is in serious trouble.

The majority of city voters believe the city is on the right track and the majority believe the city needs a new mayor - even a third of those who voted for Chow. It also seems that if John Tory or Brad Bradford face off against Chow in a one-on-one match either one could beat her but in a three way race it is less clear.

Interesting numbers, give the column a read.