Donald Trump knows the value of a good external enemy to unite his nationalist base, and — for reasons that might baffle even some of his staunchest supporters — Canada has taken on the role. With Parliament in abeyance following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation, and with the country’s reputation for civility, Trump probably thought Canada would be an easy target to bully. What the U.S. president didn’t count on, however, is the nationalism he would prompt in Canadian politicians more than happy to use his playbook against him.

Doug Ford, the right-populist Ontario premier who has captured the prevailing mood with an uncompromising resistance of his own.

Enter Doug Ford, the right-populist Ontario premier who has captured the prevailing mood with an uncompromising resistance of his own, with steps ranging from pulling American-made liquor off shelves to threatening the United States’ power supply. “If they start hurting families anywhere in Canada, especially Ontario, well, the lights are going off,” warned Ford, who come Monday will be imposing a 25 percent surcharge on electricity exported from Ontario to some 1.5 million homes in Michigan, Minnesota and New York state. He’s been unrelenting even after Trump delayed many tariffs, demanding they go to “zero.”

From the very first moment of Trump’s Canadian excesses — the ridiculing of the prime minister as “Governor Trudeau,” the talk of Canada as a “51st state,” a covetous eye cast toward our wealth of minerals and water, threats to abrogate border agreements, and ultimately the yo-yo game of tariffs — Ontario’s resolute premier has been proactive about retaliating and the need for the country to act as one.