There are legitimate reasons that a premier might occasionally charter a private flight, but Doug Ford does not deserve the benefit of anyone's doubt.
this post was submitted on 05 Jun 2026
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So you’re saying the private plane would have paid itself off after 207 years?
Was it for official business as the article claims? Then so what
Much as I think he's a shit human, I have to agree. I'd like to know how much politicians with similar amounts of responsibility typically spend.
When the private jet thing came out it was found other premiers only charter flights to remote areas. Something Ford has never done.
Pretty sure that a lot of the remote airports can't handle the kind of jet he wanted anyway. If he'd wanted a transport plane to take him and his entourage to remote areas, he should have bought a Twin Otter.
Either way it's better than that private jet he got.
Yup, i fucking hate the guy. But if it's within scope of a premiere, it works out to less than 1 penny for pop in ontario.
Okay, found a source here. Chartering a medium sized private jet to go one way from Toronto to Van Couver could cost about $50k. So if Douggie and his entourage of advisors, assistants, security, etc all want to go round trip from A to B on a tight schedule, then it is pretty easy to hit their private jet budget with a single trip.
Maybe this is unreasonable for a politician at his level, but I'm not aware of these norms
Thanks for digging!
Because politicians shouldn't be getting private charter, they can take normal commercial flights like everyone else.
There's extremely very few cases where a premier of a province, whose job is mostly for local provincial stuff and meeting with local stakeholders, needs a plane to go places, let alone a private charter.
I disagree, depending on circumstances. I having a team of people that also need to come along would make logistics easier on a chartered plane
Did you read the article? For the same "circumstances" the less important people would fly commercial but he'd still charter a plane for him and a few others.
Yes I did, and there are some examples where aids flew by commercial plane, its important to know who the 5 or 6 other people on the chartered flights were. I do agree that some of these flights were not necessary, I'd argue that some of them are. All in all, this was 140k. Less than 1 penny per population in ontario, for a full year. He has done much more egregious things that are clearly fraudulent.
Hmmm. I'm trying to understand where you're coming from and why you'd assume that they were necessary or legitimate? I think it's fair to say that it's purely an assumption and giving benefit of the doubt right now.
The article itself mentions that this is a new development. So he's managed to be in his position for several years, but now there's a legitimate use of chartered flights?
Other premiers seem to use commercial majority of the time unless they travel to remote areas in the north (not to Calgary or DC like Doug).
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/premiers-private-flights-commercial-9.7171284
Even his statements/reasoning in the use of chartered planes is that he's a laughingstock if he uses commercial.
arguing that other North American leaders “think it’s a joke” that Ontario doesn’t have a dedicated government jet.
Ford has defended the purchase and his use of private and charter flights as premier, saying he’s saved taxpayers “millions of dollars” by flying commercial over the years.
So his argument is that he's already saved Ontario residents millions and now wants comfort?
Very much a benefit of the doubt right now. Again I hate Ford and he's been a horrible premiere. He's purchase of the jet was something he should be removed from office for. I could see it potentially being needed for a very time sensitive situation.
At the end of the day having more details about what he needed the chartered flight for would be helpful
When you can take 21 weeks off, not a damn thing you do at your job is that important.
In this day and age of Zoom I think he's abusing the privilege.