The leader of Ontario, Canada’s most populous province, announced on Monday that he would be “ripping up” a contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink internet services in response to the US tariffs on Canada announced by Donald Trump.
The contract, first signed in November, aimed to provide high-speed internet access through Starlink’s satellite service to 15,000 eligible homes and businesses, notably those in remote, rural and northern communities of Canada, by June 2025.
“We’ll be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hellbent on destroying our economy,” Doug Ford, the premier, said in a post on X.
Ford warned that US businesses will lose out on “tens of billions of dollars” in new revenues as a result of Ontario’s response to the tariffs. The deal between Ford and Starlink was reported to be worth C$100m (US$68.5m).
“They only have President Trump to blame,” Ford said, adding that the Canadian government will also ban US companies from provincial contracts until the tariffs are removed.
Ford’s announcement follows other retaliatory moves taken by Canadian leaders after Trump declared a tariff barrage against Canada, Mexico and China on Saturday, saying he would order 25% tariffs on goods coming into the US from Canada and Mexico, and 10% on imports from China.
Both Canada and Mexico ordered retaliatory tariffs on American goods in response to Trump.
Musk, now an adviser to Trump, is overseeing the US “department of government efficiency” (Doge) in cooperation with the Trump administration.
It was reported by Infrastructure Ontario in January last year that only two satellite internet service providers were capable of meeting the coverage needs of Ontario – Musk’s SpaceX, which runs Starlink, and Xplore Inc, a rural Canadian service. Both were invited to participate in a bidding process, with SpaceX ultimately securing the slot.
Source: theguardian.com
