r/CanadianConservative

From the Toronto Star:

Call it Air Ford One.

The Ontario government has purchased a used $28.9-million private jet for the use of Premier Doug Ford, the Star has learned.

A senior official, speaking confidentially in order to discuss the matter, confirmed that the province this week took possession of a 2016 Bombardier Challenger 650 executive jet.

“Its primary purpose will be the premier’s travel, but obviously, in an emergency, it can be used for other purposes,” the official said Thursday.

The Quebec-made plane can seat 12 passengers and has a range of 7,400 km. It was purchased through Bombardier and was previously owned by a South American.

Ontario Provincial Police and others have pored through its flight logs and the plane was only ever used “for legitimate purposes,” the official confirmed.

While Ontario premiers have had access to private planes for generations, the current government fleet is limited to Beechcraft King Air turboprops with limited range.

A jet for the use of the premier, however, has long been controversial at Queen’s Park.

In 1981, premier Bill Davis’s Tory government bought a $10.6-million Challenger, but was forced to sell it a little more than a year later under fire from the opposition Liberals and New Democrats who decried it as a luxury perk.

The proceeds were used to purchase two water bombers.

About 20 years ago, former premier Dalton Mcguinty’s Liberal government — after learning Quebec premier Jean Charest had access to a fleet of three Challengers and Manitoba premier Gary Doer had one — briefly considered buying a jet.

The then-pc leader John Tory, who was later mayor of Toronto and had been a top aide to Davis during that earlier jet controversy, had privately offered support for the initiative as long as the plane was manufactured in Ontario.

But with the global financial crisis, the Liberals quietly grounded the scheme.

Ford — whose government charters private jets for his official travel stateside, including a trade mission to Texas earlier this month — is mindful the purchase could be contentious.

“Ontario has twice the land mass of Texas so this will give the government more certainty and flexibility,” said the official, noting the premier has been travelling more to drum up business for Ontario and to crusade against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian products.

The official made a point of noting the Quebec government recently spent $107 million on three Challengers, two of which were brand new.

As well, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s Liberal government is spending $753 million on six Bombardier Global 6500 jets to replace the last four planes of the Royal Canadian Air Force’s aging Challenger fleet.

Ottawa has said the first of its new jets, which can carry up to 17 passengers with a range of 12,000 km, is expected to be delivered by summer 2027.

While the Ontario government’s smaller Challenger would be able to land at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on the island once the runway is extended, the plan is for it to fly out of Pearson.

The next elections ads will be interesting.