Doug Ford rips up Starlink contract to spite Trump supporters
Ontario Premier Doug Ford ripped up a $100 million contract Tuesday with an American tech company owned by Elon Musk, who holds a top staff position within the Trump administration.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford ripped up a $100 million contract Tuesday with an American tech company owned by Elon Musk.
“As part of this government-wide procurement ban, we’re going one step further,” Ford told reporters. “We’re ripping up Ontario’s contract with Starlink.”
“It’s done, it’s gone,” he added.
The Premier made clear his province would not do business with “people hellbent on destroying” Ontario’s economy.
“We won’t award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province,” he added.
Premier Ford announces Ontario has ripped up its contract with @ElonMusk's company @Starlink.
— Rebel News (@RebelNewsOnline) March 4, 2025
"It's done, it's gone. We won't award contracts to people who enable and encourage economic attacks on our province and our country." pic.twitter.com/ENLeDfntZb
Premier Ford made the initial announcement on February 3, when he said all American companies would be barred from procurement bids for as long as the trade war persisted.
The province earlier chose Starlink to connect 15,000 “unserved and underserved” homes and businesses to the grid.
A subsequent statement found Ford at odds with the eccentric billionaire. “Oh well,” Musk wrote in a social media post last month.
U.S. President Donald Trump went on to grant temporary reprieve to the 25% tariffs on Canadian imports until March 4, upon reaching a deal on the border.
“I never believe in starting a fight, but I believe in winning the fight,” Ford said at the time. Musk, a Trump supporter engrained in his administration under the Department of Government Efficacy (DOGE), deeply angered the Premier, who had previously vowed not to scrap the deal.
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COMMENTS
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Bernhard Jatzezck commented 2025-03-04 21:14:43 -0500Ford wants to deep-six the deal with Starlink. There aren’t many alternatives. The system proposed by Trudeau (whatever it’s called) won’t be available for several years.
So, let’s assume that the first satellites for that were built. Who’s going to put them in orbit? SpaceX? Nope—Ford, after all, decided to cut ties with Musk, that company’s owner. RocketLab? That’s an American firm as well. Blue Origin? Another American firm. Although it launched its first New Glenn rocket a few weeks ago, with mixed results, it hasn’t established itself as reliable service yet.
I’m sure he might find the Russians and Chinese would be interested, as they both have rocket capable of lifting such payloads. But what guarantee would there be that those satellites wouldn’t be, shall we say, “modified”? After all, if our telephone services can be hacked, a space-based communications system should be easy, wouldn’t it?
Then again, Ford doesn’t impress me as being the sharpest knife in the drawer. -
Bernhard Jatzezck commented 2025-03-04 20:47:19 -0500Yeah, Ford, rip up that Starlink contract! That’ll impoverish Musk for sure!
But what’s Ford going to replace it with? The system that Trudeau promised a few months ago, but which doesn’t seem to have gone anywhere? Maybe Bell’s or Rogers’ (which, I imagine, took over Shaw’s satellite service when it acquired the company)? -
Bruce Atchison commented 2025-03-04 19:29:09 -0500Ford is the one hell bent on destroying Ontario’s economy. To Trump, Ford is a yappy little pocket dog which he could easily stomp to death. I feel sorry for Ontario folks being under such a blow hard idiot.
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Jerald Purvis commented 2025-03-04 16:17:15 -0500He can rip up the contract if he wants, but Premiere Knucklehead still has to pay it off.
