As civil servants raced to finalize the purchase of a private jet for Ontario’s premier, Doug Ford was crisscrossing the province on an OPP plane.
Schedules obtained by Global News using freedom of information laws reveal that, in a month and a half, Ford took four short-haul domestic flights on the plane and chartered a jet to travel to Texas.
Between the beginning of March and mid-April, Ford flew in and out of Windsor, Kingston, North Bay and Ottawa each in a single day.
“Decisions 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,” the premier’s office wrote in a short statement.
The revelations come as the premier tries to get control of a spending scandal in his party driven by some MPPs expensing hotels to the taxpayer instead of driving home at the end of the day.
Lambasting his MPPs for their spending last week, Ford pointed to his own decisions as evidence he is more careful with public money.
“Maybe what you should do is look into my expenses and find out that I have zero expenses,” he told reporters. “The only premier in the history of this province.”
The cost of operating the OPP jet to fly across southern Ontario is unclear, and the premier’s office did not disclose it when asked. Itineraries suggest the premier boards the plane through a charter company at Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Critics argue the culture of spending stems from the top and say the slew of short-haul flights reveals a premier acting as if he had already bought a private plane.
“It looks as though he considered it a fait accompli and couldn’t stomach the thought of getting on a commercial plane or getting the taxpayer-funded car that he already has access to,” Ontario Liberal MPP Adil Shamji said.
Windsor, Kingston, North Bay and Ottawa
Itineraries for Premier Ford accessed by Global News using freedom of information laws show a flurry of short-range flights at the beginning of 2026.
On March 5, 2026, Ford headed to Windsor, Ont., on a flight taking off from a plane charter company at Toronto Pearson International Airport at around 7:45 a.m.
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He attended an announcement with the federal government at NextStar in the city before hopping back on the plane and returning to Toronto before 4 p.m.
Ten days later, Ford was scheduled to make an announcement at the Brockville Correctional Centre. At about 9:30 a.m., the premier flew the 45 minutes to Kingston. He visited the jail, toured a factory and then returned to Toronto at 3:45 p.m. The provincial jail Ford visited is a three-hour drive from Etobicoke.
At the end of March, Ford chartered a plane, which he took to Houston, Dallas and Austin over three days before flying back to Ontario and landing at Simcoe Regional Airport.
On April 9, Ford flew an hour to North Bay for a groundbreaking, flying back to Toronto that afternoon. Mid-April saw Ford head to Ottawa and back also in the matter of a few hours.
“I’m the only premier in the history of the province that didn’t fly around in government planes,” Ford boasted last week. “I flew commercial and yes, I have to charter some, too. So I respect the taxpayers. Simple as that.”
A scrapped flight to London, Ont.
One page of the premier’s schedule obtained by Global News suggests that his office at one point had considered a 30-minute flight to London to cut down the drive to Windsor.
The page suggested the premier arrive at the airport for 6 a.m. and land in London 30 minutes later, then drive another two hours to Windsor.
The premier’s office said that document was an error and flight records show that no plane took off from the location at the scheduled time.
It’s not clear if the London flight was a planning error by someone on the premier’s team or if the plan to fly to London then drive was replaced when the option to fly to Windsor became available.
Private jet purchase
Those flights all took place after the Ontario government had signed an agreement with Bombardier to buy a private jet for the premier to use.
Documents previously released by the premier’s office confirmed Ontario received an invoice for US$22 million for the plane on March 5, although the government’s plans to buy the jet went back further.
One of the documents included in the release is a US$500,000 payment, referencing a letter of intent to buy the jet dated Jan. 19, 2026.
The purchase became public months later when, over a matter of days in mid-April, the Ford government said it had taken possession of the private and then sold it again for the same $28.9 million (CAD) it paid for the original purchase.
The premier told reporters on April 22 the plane had been sold back to Bombardier, although the documents show that didn’t actually happen until April 27.
The final invoice to sell the plane back to Bombardier is dated April 24 and marked US$23.7 million.
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the timeline of short-haul flights and the purchase showed a “sense of entitlement” from Ford.
“I think this premier is showing us that he has this sense of entitlement and it’s something we’re seeing across this government,” she said. “This premier is the same premier who said he was ending the party on the taxpayer’s dime.”
Spending questions linger
The revelations about Ford’s regular short-haul flights during the spring come as his party tries to get control of a spending scandal at Queen’s Park.
Already, Stan Cho has resigned as minister of tourism for charging $16,000 for hotel stays in downtown despite living six kilometres from Queen’s Park. Cho also faces questions for billing tens of thousands to his local riding association for expensive restaurants.
Other Progressive Conservative MPPs also spent more than $15,000 each on Toronto hotels over the past three years, while another could face an integrity commissioner complaint over allegedly spending public money to advertise in his father’s newspaper.
The spending scandal has caused tensions in the Progressive Conservative caucus, where some MPPs are frustrated that the premier hasn’t defended their use of a government perk that the whip’s office told them they could take advantage of.
Those frustrations have been intensified by the fact that MPPs have, for months, had to defend the private jet purchase to their constituents.
Left Toronto in 1990, now it’s like zulu nation
Hey Kimberly, reading comprehension is not that hard.
He didn’t fly private like Carney does. He flew in the OPP plane, to save time, and to have a much more efficient schedule
AS WE CANADIANS STRUGGLE AND GO TO FOOD BANKS TO FEED OUR KIDS – YOUUUUU ARE FLYING AROUND IN A PERSONAL PLANE?
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?? YOU ARE GREEDY & SELFISH WITH OUR TAX MONEY 🤬🤬
FORD is as dirty he is for his rich friends and family if there were voting today I vote for him out.
Lots of commercial flights on those itineraries. No need to charter or tie up the OPP plane. More proof of his bad judgement. Tell his staff to book him commercial and plan around those times. Taxpayers shouldn’t have to pay government privileged charter flights when there are ontario employees happy to welcome him to a commercial flight.
A Trump move eh
It’s appaling how people react to a $29mln purchase for him to be able to travel to do more in less time. Having held posts as a project manager with multiple projects, I know how much can be accomplished with dedicated travel services. He has a ton more to do and can only be effective by having reliable and dedicated travel services available.
I meant to write “journalist”, not “oncologist”.
Petty, petty, petty. I guess this is an attempt to keep the stale, resold jet story alive. A professional journalist would have checked to see what commercial flights were available to Windsor, Kingston and North Bay on the dates listed, to see if Ford had an alternative to the charters. The oncologists suggestion that he drive to these events from Toronto is preposterous. Frankly, I have no problem with the Premier (or any Premier) flying charters to smaller communities to make announcements. That’s an important part of the job. And it’s a big job leading a province with 16 million people and a trillion dollar plus economy. If you really want to see flagrant entitlement and abuse of privilege, check out federal cabinet ministers use of the Challenger fleet.
I’m definitely not a Ford fan but the pettiness of Joe Q Public is mind boggling. Apparently you would prepare to have the Premier of Ontario spend an entire day traveling to and back from various parts of the province. No sense of the value of time. Small minded. He needs to represent the entire province, not just sit in TO. This is not entitlement, it is doing his job.
Why can’t we fire this fatass
And marc Carney billed Canadian tax payers $160,000 in food costs for a single trip 😂
But trump! But pp! But ford!
Liberal propaganda 🤢
Global is this written by AI, slow news day. Go Doug go!!
Still in the air*
Gravy plane is still not in the air.
The sad thing about Sugar Daddy Doug is despite claiming to be Conservative, he turned out a klepto-socialist and nothing more than a placeholder for the Libs who will pull out all the stops when the regain power and resume the wholesale decimation of Ontario.
What a terrible ‘news’ article. So you’re saying a premier should slug along the 401 for 5 hours to get to Windsor and return home on the same day because he’s not allowed to get a hotel right? Holding an elected official hostage because he’s trying to use his time efficiently is clearly just a cheap shot because he doesn’t wear your party’s colours. Disgraceful reporting, you aren’t good at what you do.
Carney and Joly fly between Ottawa and Montreal, basically 200km. All the while spending an outrageous amount of money on luxury in flight catering, including Cavier, Beef Wellington, and expensive wine/ spirits.
Kirsch the bridge is a major infrastructure project that will benefit Michigan and Ontario. Of course our Premier should be there to celebrate its opening.
Carneys spends 100k on food alone every business trip, with many of these trips chasing down deals to sell LNG that just 4 years ago he advised Trudeau to reject. Google, Germany, Japan, LNG “no business case”.
The word entitlement came to mind reading the headline then …there it appeared. Why doug feels he needs to show up to back an agreement of handing out taxpayer monies is a wasted day in our opinion.Travel time: includes flight to/ from airports: 3.5 hours speech: 5 minutes travel to lunch, and dine: 2 hours. Why attend the G.Howe bridge opening?? Zero dollars from the provincial gov. toward this project..Ontario have a prince who likes jet setting, cutting ribbons and eating while eliminating the over seers
Hey Tim, the OPP owns a jet because it is tasked with providing police services to all areas of Ontario, even remote northern communities that barely have an airstrip. Thats why.
Get a grip global. How else is the premier supposed to travel. What a nonsense story
It is about 1900km from Kenora to Ottawa. How is Ford to get around?
If Doug Ford was Marlania Smith this would be a different story fro global
Carney spends over $125 k for inflight catering every time he goes on a trip. No expense is spared.
I get that the value of the premier’s time could justify flying to locations over a certain distance and while the article is focusing on the premier’s four Ontario flights, I am wondering why nobody is asking: “Why does the OPP own a private jet?”
Ontario is massive and so is our economy. So what if the Premier has to fly. How quickly we forget that during the federal parliament prorogation, that was done to save the LPC’s hold on power, it was Ford as the head of association of Premiers who was the only person attempting dialgoue with the incoming Trump administration.
Sounds like Trump with his comments about expenses. What he failed to say was the staff of the Premier is the largest in history. While they have reduced it slightly claiming to be saving taxpayer dollars, they shouldn’t have hired all the people in the first place. I see more hypocrisy from Conservatives than anyone else. Ford, you’re insulting me as a taxpayer on numerous levels. Unlike most voters, I do not forget. Your performance record is a failure and quite frankly the Conservative party couldn’t manage a lemon aid stand. Anyone stating he should have a jet would be screaming from the rooftops if it was a different political party.
Only partisan fools have an issue with the leader of a province with a multi trillion dollar economy having a private jet