Ford says ‘beautiful’ Lake Ontario sign was worth $25K price tag

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the $25,000 price tag for his Lake Ontario sign was public money well worth spending because of the promotional benefits it brought.

Last week, Ford travelled to Winona, Ont., to unveil a giant blue sign that reads “Lake Ontario now and always” in both English and French.

The sign was a response to U.S. President Donald Trump, who issued an executive order renaming the body of water “Lake America” as part of his trade war with Canada.

The premier’s office said it cost the public roughly $25,000 to print the sign.

Speaking at an unrelated event that was closed to the media on Thursday, Ford said he’d received messages from the public about the sign.

“I got more comments about that beautiful sign that we put up,” he said. “I can’t remember what it cost, I think it was $25,000, but I responded to one person.”

The premier said the sign was worth the money because of how it travelled around the world, being picked up by news outlets in the United States and further afield.

“The return on investment on that — where do you get $25 million of free advertising all throughout the U.S., all throughout Canada?

“I’ll take that ROI all day on $25,000.”

While Ford’s Lake Ontario sign has garnered international news coverage, the premier’s political critics questioned whether his approach — from the insults to a series of interviews on U.S. television networks — was helping the overall negotiations.

“I just think we’re giving President Trump what he wants,” said interim Liberal Leader John Fraser.

“These are serious times; it’s a trade war. You need a plan, you need a strategy. We don’t need to be talking to Americans on American television. If the premier wants to be talking to people, he should be talking to Ontarians about what his plan is to protect Ontarians.”