Ontario signed a pricey deal with a Washington law firm for high-level U.S. trade advice — a contract worth more than $1 million a month — even as Premier Doug Ford publicly applauded Prime Minister Mark Carney’s handling of cross-border disputes.Blacklock's Reporter says records show the province inked the retainer with Hogan Lovells U.S. LLP on October 25. The global firm, which has 2,800 lawyers, was brought on to guide Ontario through potential U.S. subsidy, anti-dumping and safeguard actions that could hit the province.“Your firm is being retained to provide legal services which shall include but are not limited to trade remedy matters that arise under U.S. or international law,” the contract stated. Documents say Hogan Lovells was hired to offer “advice on U.S. and international law, regulations and policies concerning Canada-U.S. trade issues including U.S. legal and regulatory advice involving public relations matters.”In its first month, the firm billed US$762,779 — roughly $1.06 million Canadian — though records don’t spell out what specific work was done..The multimillion-dollar legal tab comes as Ford continues to back Carney’s approach to international trade. After meeting with the prime minister this week, Ford told reporters the two were aligned on keeping Canada competitive.“It was good to get together,” said Ford. “I recommend we do it more often. We do it frequently, making sure we’re all speaking off the same song sheet.” He added: “I want to thank the Prime Minister for traveling around the world and getting Canada out front. We work together. It doesn’t matter what political stripe you’re from, we need to work as Team Canada right now.”Ontario isn’t the only one to turn to American firms for help on trade disputes..The Council of the Federation hired Checkmate Government Relations LLC of Washington last February at US$85,000 a month for confidential outreach to U.S. officials. And the Canadian Embassy in Washington signed a deal March 17 with Signal Group Consulting LLC at US$2,000 an hour for guidance on communicating with Americans.According to the contract, Signal Group delivered a two-hour session on “right wing media and messaging,” complete with a question-and-answer segment.This outside spending continues despite the Department of Foreign Affairs having 12,800 staff, a $7.6 billion annual budget and offices in 14 U.S. cities. The department has long claimed deep expertise on American political, business and cultural networks.“We have a relationship that goes deep at different levels of American society,” former foreign minister Mélanie Joly said in 2024. “We have an approach that is very broad and I think we’re very unique in the world. We have the strongest and I think the most important relationship as a country with the United States.”
