Ontario Premier Doug Ford criticised for $21m private jet purchase

Doug Ford, the leader of the Canadian province of Ontario, has been criticised for his government's purchase of a pre-owned C$28.9m ($21m; £15.5m) private jet, with opposition leaders calling it a "gravy plane".

News of the purchase was first reported by the Toronto Star newspaper on Friday and was later confirmed by the premier's office in a statement to media.

The plane is a Bombardier Challenger 650 executive jet, built in Canada in 2016. Ford's office said it will be used primarily for his travel, including to the US "to help make the case against President (Donald) Trump's tariffs".

The purchase drew heat from Ford's political opponents, who called it "out of touch".

"He should be flying economy like the rest of us," said Marit Stiles, leader of the left-leaning Ontario New Democratic Party in a post on X.

She added later on a morning breakfast television programme that "Ontarians are struggling to make rent, to pay for groceries, just to get by, and the premier of this province thinks now is a great time to buy a private jet? I think it's terrible timing."

A taxpayers' advocacy group, the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, has called on the premier to reverse the purchase and to "stick to flying commercial".

In a statement to Canadian media, Ford's office said the plane will help the premier conduct "more certain, flexible, secure and confidential travel" throughout Ontario, "a province twice the landmass of Texas."

They added the plane will also be used for "extensive travel" conducted by Ford across Canada and the US, citing the premier's ongoing fight to get Trump's tariffs on Canada lifted.

Ford was most recently in Texas, visiting last week to meet with representatives from the automotive industry and Governor Gregg Abbott.

Previously, Ford had chartered private planes for his official trips.

In its statement, Ford's office defended the price tag of the private jet, saying that it is "significantly less than the C$107m Quebec paid for its fleet of one pre-owned and two brand-new Challenger 650s". Those planes were purchased by the province for its air ambulance services.

The statement also notes a C$753m purchase by the Government of Canada for six new Bombardier Global 6500 jets.

Those jets will replace aging Royal Canadian Air Force challenger aircrafts and will be used to transport the prime minister and other officials, as well as to support military operations, the federal government had said in late December.

The purchase of private planes has a contentious history in Ontario. In 1981, then-Premier Bill Davis came under fire for buying a multi-million dollar Challenger jet.

The controversy forced the Davis government to modify the plane so it could double as an air ambulance. The premier later relented and sold it after mounting criticism, replacing it with two forest-fire water bombers.

Ford, who has been Ontario's premier since 2018, won a rare third-consecutive majority government last year. His approval rating is among the lowest in Canada, however, hovering at about 31%, according to an Angus Reid Poll from earlier this year.

He has become a familiar figure in the US, thanks to his frequent appearances on American news networks and anti-tariff advertisements paid for by his government that have aired in the US.

The latter have angered President Trump, who temporarily halted US-Canada trade talks over an advert that featured former President Ronald Reagan.