Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford is “ripping up” Ontario’s $100 million contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink in the wake of U.S. tariffs on virtually all Canadian goods, he said in a statement Monday.
The contract, signed in November, was meant to provide high-speed internet access through Starlink’s satellite service to 15,000 eligible homes and businesses in rural, remote and northern communities by June of this year.
Ford said Ontario will ban American companies from provincial contracts until U.S. tariffs are removed.
“Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy,” he said in the statement.
Musk, an adviser to President Donald Trump, is overseeing the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in co-operation with Trump’s administration.
Ford has faced criticism for the contract, with Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie calling on him to end the deal last week.
“If he were serious about standing up to Trump, he would cancel his sweetheart deal with Elon Musk,” Crombie previously said in a news release.
Ford defended the contract at the time, saying there was a transparent bidding process and it was part of the government’s plan to get everyone in the province high-speed internet.
More to come.