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Ontario Premier Doug Ford has declared economic independence for the province's confectionery sector, urging citizens to shun foreign treats this Halloween in favour of locally produced sweets.

Ford gamely samples local candies while preaching the gospel of "buy Ontario,” in a video message posted on social media hours before trick-or-treaters hit the streets:

Happy Halloween, Ontario! Stay safe, have fun and remember to support local by choosing Ontario-made candy and treats. pic.twitter.com/kAarAuEeRS

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 31, 2025

Playing candy sommelier, clad in his trademark navy suit, the premier is guessing brands like Sour Patch Kids and Laura Secord with the enthusiasm of a man who's just discovered the Ring of Fire has chocolate deposits.

"Make sure you try and buy Ontario-made products," he implores, as if a chocolate from Kitchener could single-handedly turn the province's dwindling economy on a dime.

It's a folksy pivot from the premier's usual hard-hat photo-ops with his “for the people” pitches, and it reeks of selective protectionism at a time when his own handiwork has torched cross-border relations.

Just days ago, Ford’s anti-tariff TV campaign featuring former President Ronald Reagan backfired and swiftly derailed trade negotiations.

It’s official: Ontario’s new advertising campaign in the U.S. has launched. 

Using every tool we have, we’ll never stop making the case against American tariffs on Canada. The way to prosperity is by working together.

Watch our new ad. pic.twitter.com/SgIVC1cqMJ

— Doug Ford (@fordnation) October 16, 2025

The multi-million-dollar spend targeted U.S. audiences – ultimately aiming to shape Americans’ views on Canadian tariffs – prompted President Donald Trump to slam the door on trade talks, effectively stranding Ontario's auto sector in tariff purgatory.

Ford defended the ad as a success, but it certainly appears to have left Ottawa scrambling.

With negotiations in ashes, Ford's Halloween homily feels less like holiday cheer and more like a sugar-coated snub to free trade. By championing "Ontario-made," there’s the ever whisper of bureaucratic hypocrisy: the same governments that champion free trade and open markets when it benefits them, but quickly retreat into protective turtle when it doesn’t.

Ford’s message lands somewhere between satire and statecraft — it’s sugary nationalism wrapped in foil. In Ontario, even the impartial chocolate bar bears the weight of provincial destiny. What was meant as a homespun call to “buy local” instead melts into another clumsy stand against Trump-era tariffs; a sad reminder that Ford’s protectionist posturing always seems to leave Ontario with more wrappers than rewards.