The Ontario Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of Canada condemns Doug Ford’s “Fortress Am-Can” proposal as an alarming capitulation to the anti-worker, anti-democratic agenda of Donald Trump and U.S. imperialism. Ford’s so-called “energy alliance” and broader policies align with Trump’s vision of a North America subordinated to U.S. corporate interests, offering Canadian monopolies limited access to markets in exchange. This direction—doubling down on disastrous “free trade” integration that has left workers in this province vulnerable to U.S. diktats—will further strip Canada of its sovereignty while undermining workers, public services, Indigenous rights, and the environment.
Doug Ford presents his pitch as a way to avert a trade war with Trump, but the reality is clear: Ford is selling out Ontario. He is willing to do so to secure deals for the corporate monopolies he represents, aiming to better exploit workers and the environment for profit. Notably, Ford was advocating for a renegotiation of the USMCA to exclude Mexico even before Trump’s tariff threats, exposing his eagerness to rewrite so-called “free trade” agreements—essentially corporate constitutions—to remove rights from people and the environment in favour of corporations. We need only look to cities such as Windsor, Oshawa and Hamilton to see the mass exodus of manufacturing since the first “free trade” agreement with the U.S. in the 1980s.
By proposing an energy alliance, increased access to critical minerals, and deeper economic alignment with the U.S., Ford is paving the way for Ontario’s natural resources—many on Indigenous territories in the North—to be further exploited by corporate monopolies, including U.S. monopolies. His push for greater capitalist integration accelerates the privatization of healthcare for corporate profit, the dismantling of climate protections to appease Big Oil, and the accelerated sell-off of Canadian industries and resources to American interests.
While Canadian monopolies and the working class share no common interests, Canadian sovereignty is a prerequisite for any progressive economic and social change. Similarly, the struggles of Indigenous nations and Quebec for sovereignty and self-determination would face significant setbacks with further erosion of Canadian sovereignty under U.S. domination.
If implemented, Ford’s policies would render formal annexation by the U.S. unnecessary. Canada would effectively become, in all the ways that matter to Trump and his corporate backers, the 51st state. Ford’s willingness to align with U.S. interests mirrors Pierre Poilievre’s federal Conservative strategy: give Trump everything he wants—more military spending, increased border militarization, and open-ended concessions to U.S. corporations—all at the expense of workers, public services, and democracy.
Ford and Poilievre’s subservience to Trump’s agenda is shameful but unsurprising. Trump’s belligerence, including tariff threats and demands for trade renegotiations, has pushed Canadian politicians to trip over themselves in reassuring him of Canada’s capitulation. The result is a growing “Team Canada” consensus among Tory, Liberal, and even NDP politicians that Canada must massively increase military spending, escalate tensions with China, and tighten border security. Meanwhile, the glaring reality remains that the greatest threat to Canada’s sovereignty is the corporate drive, from both sides of the border, to further integrate with the United States.
Ford’s proposals would siphon untold billions of dollars away from underfunded social services, healthcare, and housing to fund unnecessary militarization and border enforcement. These measures do nothing to protect Canadians but are designed to offload the costs of U.S. imperialist objectives onto Canadian workers. They fail to address the real needs of working people in Ontario while enriching corporate monopolies and fueling the war machine.
Ford’s proposals for deeper integration and militarization are not just dangerous—they are steps toward war and reaction, and they strengthen the growing threat of fascism in North America. Closer alignment with U.S. imperialism will further entangle Canada in the militarization and conflicts driven by NATO and the U.S., with devastating consequences for peace and democracy.
Whatever Ford and his corporate backers may believe, the time has come to reaffirm sovereignty and reject subservience to U.S. imperialism. This requires tearing up so-called “free trade” agreements like the USMCA, which exist solely to protect monopoly interests at the expense of workers and the environment. It also means withdrawing immediately from NATO and all other imperialist alliances that serve as tools for U.S. domination.
Ford’s “Fortress Am-Can” must be met with organized resistance from labour and democratic movements. The only effective response to Trump’s aggression and Ford’s surrender is a program that prioritizes workers’ needs, not corporate profits. Public ownership and democratic control of key industries is essential for economic sovereignty and to protect against job losses resulting from potential tariffs.
The fight against “Fortress Am-Can” and for sovereignty is part of a broader struggle to break from U.S. imperialism and reject the capitalist system that drives war, inequality, and environmental destruction. By uniting labour and democratic forces, we can defend Ontario’s workers and communities while charting a path toward a just, peaceful, and sustainable future. Ultimately, socialism is the only system that can replace capitalism and establish a society with full democracy and sovereignty where wealth is owned equitably by the working people who create it.
People’s needs—not corporate greed, war, and reaction—must shape Ontario’s future. It’s time to organize, mobilize, and demand an Ontario that serves working people, not capital from south or north of the border.
Ontario Provincial Committee, Communist Party of Canada
