Ontario Premier Doug Ford says that while Toronto should be the host city for a new defence bank, he doesn’t believe in “attacking” competing bids for it.
Ford made the comments Tuesday after Quebec politicians last week accused Canada’s largest city of waging a “fear campaign.”
Those officials said their Toronto counterparts are invoking the threat of a Quebec referendum to undermine Montreal’s bid to host the Defence, Security and Resilience Bank (DSRB), which would provide financing for defence projects by NATO members and allies.
Canada has been chosen to host the bank’s headquarters, with Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver competing for the project, which is expected to create more than 3,000 jobs.
“We love Montreal. I can tell you I love Quebecers as well. This is a process that the whole country is going through,” Ford told reporters at an event in Toronto.
“The prime minister will have to make a decision, but I don’t believe in attacking any other bids. I just don’t believe in that. Montreal, Quebecers, they’re fine people.”
The contest to host the bank has been intensifying as cities make their case. Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette said Montreal has what it needs to welcome the bank.
But a report published in Quebec’s French-language newspaper La Presse suggests promoters in Toronto are, behind the scenes, pointing to the possibility of another referendum to portray Montreal as a less stable choice.
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“It’s part of a fear campaign,” Parti Québécois MNA Pascal Paradis said.
The PQ is leading in the polls with five months to go before the next provincial election and has pledged to hold a referendum in its first mandate if elected.
Paradis rejected the idea that such a move would hurt the economy.
“We must put aside this fear campaign, these fear tactics,” he said last week.
Québec solidaire, another sovereigntist party, echoed that position.
“What I’m afraid of is the real instability caused by Quebec being in Canada,” spokesperson Sol Zanetti said.
Fréchette declined to weigh in on whether sovereignty concerns could weaken Montreal’s bid.
“I’m not getting into that,” she said, adding she has not contacted Ford over the issue.
Ford, flanked by leaders from several sectors, said Toronto is the only city in Canada “that can truly provide everything the bank needs.”
“The bank needs a host city that is one of the largest financial hubs in North America, that is home to all five of Canada’s largest banks, bond-rating agencies and many of the country’s largest pension funds, institutional investors, and the offices of over 40 more international banks,” he said.
“There’s 110 nationalities and nearly 200 languages represented in Ontario. International airports and rail, highway and shipping networks connecting to Canada, the rest of North America and to the destinations around the world. Toronto and Ontario offer all these benefits and we’re willing to go above and beyond to support the DSRB.”
He added that the Ontario government will help the bank establish both an interim and long-term headquarters, with a potential temporary home at 200 Front St. W.
Also, the government would leverage the $4-billion Protect Ontario Account Investment Fund to attract investment capital to Canada and Ontario’s defence industry, and intends to issue a minimum $500-million bond to fund defence projects.
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow echoed Ford’s pitch.
“This institution will bring more than 3,500 jobs to Canada. It will elevate our profile on the world stage and reinforce our credibility as a trusted ally in a moment when that credibility genuinely matters,” she said.
“Toronto is where Canada’s financial leadership lives. It is where the DSRB should live too.”
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