Doug Ford flip-flops, plans to sell recently purchased $28.9-million jet amid public fury

“Despite the best of intentions, I have heard and agree that now is not the right time for the expense of a government plane,” the premier said in a terse statement Sunday.

“The province is working with Bombardier and other partners to sell the plane as quickly as possible,” said Ford, who had justified the expense because of his crusade against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Canadian goods.

“I will continue the work of building relationships with business and political leaders, both across Canada and in the United States, to fight tariffs, attract investments and create jobs for Ontario workers,” he added.

Ford — who will be in Ottawa on Monday for a business summit with the premiers of New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and the Northwest Territories — had been criticized from across the political spectrum for the purchase.

On Friday, the Star reported the province took possession last week of a Quebec-made 2016 Bombardier Challenger 650, which can seat 12 passengers and has a 7,400 km range.

But even some Progressive Conservatives privately complained the move, which was approved by cabinet, was considered “off-brand” for Ford, who took office in 2018 promising “to stop the gravy train” of spending at Queen’s Park.

In 2019, he even boasted he was “the only premier in history that refuses to use the premier’s plane, the King Air, that costs the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.”

“I prefer to drive around and talk to the people about things that matter — about creating jobs, lowering taxes, making sure we’re lowering the heating costs, lowering gas prices,” Ford said at time when he was trying to justify a modified Ontario Provincial Police vehicle with $50,000 worth of upgrades, including a minifridge, a 32-inch television with a Blu-ray player and a leather power-reclining sofa.

That custom van scheme was also aborted amid public outcry.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles derided the premier Sunday for another major policy flip-flop.

“Doug Ford is turning the plane around mid-air for an emergency landing because he got caught living like a rock star on your dime,” said Stiles.

“Just like the Greenbelt: Ford only reverses when the heat gets too hot. The premier’s buyer’s remorse isn’t good enough when it’s your money,” she said, referring to the land swap scandal that is under investigation by the RCMP.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said the premier “wants to live like a billionaire — just with your money.”

“Doug Ford didn’t see the light. He felt the heat. Trying to buy a private jet while families are struggling to afford groceries and gas tells you everything you need to know,” said Fraser.

“Now, only after intense backlash, he’s scrambling to sell his gravy plane. But it could easily be sold at a loss and sit on the books as a liability for taxpayers for months. How much is this going to cost Ontarians? We may never know,” he said, castigating Ford for amending freedom of information laws.

Green leader Mike Schreiner said it was “outrageous that the premier’s first instinct is to put his own interests and those of the wealthy and well-connected ahead of everyday people’s affordability struggles.”

“While I’m glad the premier is taking Ontarians’ outrage over his $30 million private jet purchase seriously, he needs to answer as to why he’s so out of touch with the struggles people are facing in the first place,” said Schreiner.

“Let’s be honest, the premier is only selling the jet because he got caught. He would have been happy to keep spending our money in secrecy had the sale not been leaked,” he added.

While Canadian prime ministers and premiers of Quebec have long used government jets, the issue has always been controversial in Ontario.

In 1981, premier Bill Davis’s Tories bought a $10.6-million Challenger, but were forced to sell it 15 months later under pressure from the opposition Liberals and NDP.

Davis used the proceeds to buy two water bombers.

In 1996, Bombardier offered Tory premier Mike Harris a Challenger as part of its repayment of a provincial government loan five years earlier. But Harris, who had been a rookie MPP in 1981 and was aware of the political headaches, refused.

About 20 years ago, Liberal premier Dalton McGuinty, mindful Quebec had jets, briefly considered buying one. PC leader John Tory, a top aide to Davis in 1981, quietly offered his party’s support as long as the aircraft was manufactured in Ontario, but that plan was abandoned with the global financial crisis.

Asked about the issue Friday, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith sniffed that, “I can tell you I travel commercial or in a vehicle when I’m travelling around the province.”

Ford — who has a fear of flying, a major reason why he dislikes the turboprop Beechcraft King Air — has chartered private jets for official travel over the past several years, including a trade mission to Texas three weeks ago.

Charters can cost around $10,000 per hour, meaning the premier’s trip to Houston, Dallas and Austin could easily have been $200,000, including overnight expenses, landing and handling fees.

The issue has provoked furor on talk-radio airwaves, among commenters on newspaper websites and from those on the right and left.

“Ford is doing the right thing by selling this private jet that never should have been purchased in the first place,” Noah Jarvis, Ontario director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said Sunday.

“Taxpayers can’t afford to be footing the bill for the premier’s private luxuries while the province sinks to $485 billion in debt,” said Jarvis. “There’s no reason why the premier can’t travel commercially like the rest of us.”

Although the Challenger couldn’t land at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport unless the runway was extended, opponents of the premier’s proposed expansion of the downtown airfield claimed that was one reason he wanted a jet.

“For eight years, Premier Ford has not said a single word about the island airport, and suddenly he’s hell-bent on expanding the airport to allow him to fly his ‘gravy plane’ jet from there,” Norm Di Pasquale, a former NDP candidate who speaks for NoJetsTO, said Friday.