{"id":715174,"date":"2026-06-04T19:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715174\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T19:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T19:47:11","slug":"news-ford-defends-ontarios-use-of-charter-flights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/715174\/","title":{"rendered":"News: Ford defends Ontario’s use of charter flights"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ontario Premier Doug Ford responds to criticism surrounding taking private charter flights and if he has plans to purchase another private jet. <\/p>\n

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is defending his use of charter flights in the wake of criticism over his government\u2019s short-lived, since abandoned purchase of a private jet. <\/p>\n

Ford made the comments during a news conference on Thursday when questioned about his frequent use of charter flights to travel around Canada and the United States, noting that he would \u201ccontinue to charter when needed.\u201d <\/p>\n

Global News has previously reported<\/a> that the Ontario government spent more than $140,000 on private plane charters to at least five destinations in 2025. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Ford\u2019s office would not confirm that number to CTV News on Friday, only saying that \u201cdecisions about travel are made on a case-by-case basis, depending on security, scheduling, the availability of commercial flights, and the availability of the OPP aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Doug Ford Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks during an announcement regarding the Province uploading ownership and maintenance of the Gardiner Expressway and Don Valley Parkway, in Toronto on Thursday, June 4, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Arlyn McAdorey <\/p>\n

\u201cLet\u2019s talk about that,\u201d Ford said when asked about charter flight travel on Thursday. \u201cI went to Ottawa last week, everyone knows it\u2019s 45 minutes there, maybe an hour back. By the time you leave, you wait in line, spend about seven hours your whole day. If you think that\u2019s productive as a leader of the 19th largest economy in the entire world… we\u2019re going to disagree. We got to stop treating Ontario like a banana republic because that is what it is being treated like.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ford noted that he did take a charter flight to Texas for a recent trade mission. He said that the charter flight allowed him to visit three cities and partake in 13 different meetings with Fortune 500 companies on Ontario\u2019s behalf, which he suggested will result in $6 billion investments. <\/p>\n

\u201cI couldn\u2019t hit three cities in Texas and 13 appointments if i didn\u2019t charter,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Calls for a review<\/p>\n

In May, documents from the premier\u2019s office<\/a> revealed that taxpayers are still on the hook for nearly $200,000 following the government\u2019s flip flow on the $28.9-million jet purchase. <\/p>\n

\"\"Summary of Transaction-Related Expenses for Executive Aircraft Aquisition and Sale. Summary of Transaction-Related Expenses for Executive Aircraft Aquisition and Sale. <\/p>\n

Since then, opposition leader Marit Stiles has called on Ford to personally repay any additional costs around the jet purchase and sale. She also sent a letter to Ontario Auditor General Shelley Spence requesting \u201ca comprehensive audit and investigation\u201d into the purchase and resale of the jet.<\/p>\n

There is no word on whether an official independent audit or investigation is underway. The government did however recently strike down<\/a> a motion by Ontario NDP Shadow Finance Minister Jessica Bell (University\u2014Rosedale) who tried to call for an inquiry. <\/p>\n

\u2018No plans\u2019 for another jet<\/p>\n

When asked about whether the government plans to revisit another jet purchase down the line, Ford noted there are no plans at this time. <\/p>\n

\u201cI have no plans outside of outside of the OPP, outside of Ornge, which are absolutely critical,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Ford, however, did continue to make the case for the purchase, noting that when he tells colleagues in the U.S. that the premier\u2019s office doesn\u2019t have its own jet for government travel \u201cthey think it is a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re a massive, massive province, 1,070,000 square kilometers… until you fly it, never ever under understand how large Ontario is.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to keep up with the rest of the country, keep up with the U.S. who we\u2019re competing against, and we have to get down there and promote Ontario, and that\u2019s what exactly what we\u2019re going to continue doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ontario Premier Doug Ford responds to criticism surrounding taking private charter flights and if he has plans to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":715175,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-715174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=715174"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/715174\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/715175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=715174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=715174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=715174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}