We're About To See If Ford Really Wants To Be Prime Minister.

In short, Ford has a tough balancing act to follow going forward. On the one hand, the relationship between Canada's first ministers has probably never been better, thanks to Carney's approach to federal-provincial-territorial relations. However, with elbows-up largely dissipated, the premiers are probably sensing that it has been replaced by a vacuum, a place reminiscent of the lack of progress achieved during WWI trench warfare. At best, it's a stalemate with Trump, at worst, a total freeze-out with Trump calling the tune and dictating the negotiating terms during ongoing negotiations. 

So far, any disagreement between Ford and Carney on how to approach the Trump Administration has been kept private. Publicly, Ford remains onside with the rest of Team Canada, but given his previous public comments, he can't be happy with the way negotiations are going with the OrangeMenaceTM.

By now, the obvious way to deal with Trump is crystal clear: you have to go at him as hard as possible without giving quarter unless something tangible or valuable is conceded in return. So far, Carney has received nothing but a goose egg in his negotiations with Trump. Ford and the other premiers know that only too well. So, Ford has a choice: he can continue to go along to get along, or he can break publicly with Carney and push for a hard line just like I have. If he does, it will be the mother of all signals that he's running it around in his head to take Carney on after the next Conservative leadership race, which will quickly follow an almost certain CPC election loss.

Ford has gone from publicly praising Carney to complete radio silence. Now he gets to either put up or stay shut up. His choice will tell us a lot more about him and his future political plans than most people realize. Do I think he wants to be PM sooner rather than later? You bet I do.