Ontario Buys $28.9M Private Jet for Premier Doug Ford
On April 17, 2026, the Ontario government confirmed it had spent $28.9 million on a pre-owned 2016 Bombardier Challenger 650 jet for Premier Doug Ford's use. The province cited federal-provincial meetings and US tariff travel. Operating costs were not publicly disclosed at the time of announcement. NDP, Liberal, and Canadian Taxpayers Federation criticism was immediate; civic group NoJetsTO linked the purchase to the government's concurrent Billy Bishop Airport expansion plan under Bill 5.
🔍 A reversed Transparency policy from April 2026 · Implemented · Well sourced
Updated · Created
"Flexible, Secure Travel for the Premier"
Ontario buys a pre-owned Bombardier Challenger 650 for Premier Ford — citing travel within Ontario, Council of the Federation and First Ministers' meetings, and US tariff-related travel. The province frames the price as lower than comparable Quebec and federal government aircraft.
"This is significantly less than the $107-million Quebec paid for its fleet or the $753-million Canada paid for its six new Global 6500 jets."
— Hannah Jensen, Premier's spokesperson, April 17, 2026
"$28.9M Capital Price; Operating Costs Not Disclosed"
A months-long procurement announced on a Friday morning as a completed transaction, with no published figure for ongoing operating costs (fuel, pilot compensation, maintenance, per-flight-hour rates). The purchase comes in the same fiscal year the province forecasts $17.2 billion in interest-and-other-debt-servicing charges.
- $28.9M one-time capital purchase price of a pre-owned 2016 Challenger 650source
- Operating costs (fuel, pilot compensation, maintenance) not publicly disclosed at announcementsource
- Procurement under way for several months before being announced Friday morning as a completed transactionsource
- Ontario Budget 2026 forecasts $17.2B in Interest and Other Debt Servicing Charges for 2026–27 — 7.1% of total provincial expensesource
- Canadian Taxpayers Federation (Noah Jarvis): "completely unacceptable Ford is billing taxpayers for a private jet… wasting more than a billion dollars a month on debt interest charges"source
- 2019 precedent: $50,696 A1 Mobility van-retrofit estimate (Brad Blair lawsuit; emails routed through staffer Nico Fidani's personal Gmail). Premier's office denied any off-books allegation.source
- NoJetsTO (Di Pasquale) links the jet to the March 2026 Billy Bishop SEZ expansion; province states the jet will operate from Pearson, not Billy Bishopsource
This section represents editorial interpretation of documented evidence.
Figures are approximate, using publicly available Ontario cost data.
The Next One →
Get new investigations in your inbox.
One email per case. No spam. No tracking pixels. Unsubscribe anytime.