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LILLEY: Doug Ford defends buying and selling private jet

Perhaps people would be less outraged if they stopped to consider the facts

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In the same breath, Doug Ford said he was wrong to buy the plane, that he was listening to the public, but still defended the initial decision.

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The decision to buy a government jet for Ford and others to use was announced last Friday. By Sunday, Ford had announced that he was instructing provincial staff to sell it.

LILLEY: Doug Ford defends buying and selling private jet Back to video

“I heard loud and clear from the people that this was not the time to purchase the plane,” Ford said, alluding to the myriad of calls and texts he got over the weekend.

Despite saying that, and despite assuring reporters that he wasn’t changing his mind, Ford gave a defence of the purchase. He noted the size of the province and poor commercial flight options to many parts of the province, in particular the north.

“They’re canceling stops in pretty well the majority of all northern jurisdictions, or they’ll have one flight going into Thunder Bay, or one flight maybe into Sudbury,” Ford said.

“People don’t realize how large Ontario is unless you’ve flown it and flown it many times from north, south, east, west. It’s twice the size of Texas. It’s larger than France and Spain combined.”

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Ford’s reversal on the purchase didn’t stop the manufactured outrage from NDP opposition leader Marit Stiles.

“The people of this province are outraged and rightfully so,” Stiles said during question period.

Perhaps people would be less outraged if they stopped to consider the facts. While Stiles goes on about how this money could save the student grant system or protect healthcare, those are false claims.

The $28.9-million price tag for the Challenger jet amounts to one-tenth of one per cent of the province’s budget. By comparison, health funding this year is projected at $101 billion or 41% of the budget.

Health funding has increased by $9.9 billion over the past two years, or 10.8%. Buying this plane would not have hurt the health system.

Ford described how he needed to charter a private jet recently for his business trip to Texas to meet with business and political leaders there and how it paid off in the long run.

“I flew down into Texas. I had 13 appointments in two days and one morning in three cities,” Ford said. “I went to Austin, I went to Dallas, I went to Houston. We brought back, and I’m being super conservative, over $6 billion of investments.”

Ford said phone calls and Zoom calls are great, but that they don’t deliver like in-person meetings.

People who are outraged at Ford’s now-cancelled plane plans aren’t thinking clearly.

This isn’t about letting Ford fly in a plane on his own as the flight attendant peels him a grape and spoon-feeds him caviar; this is about effective use of his time. Like it or not, the Premier of Ontario, be it Ford or anyone else, is leading a massive organization.

Ontario’s revenues outstrip the combined revenues of Royal Bank, TD, CIBC and Scotiabank. When Ford travels, it’s not just him, he is accompanied by his OPP detail, staff, officials and other cabinet ministers.

Having a plane that can accommodate them and allow them to travel to all parts of the country efficiently only makes sense. The government already has a fleet of at least 20 planes, just none of them are suitable for this purpose.

“This was not Doug Ford’s plane,” Ford said in Ottawa.

No, it wasn’t. It was supposed to be used for a variety of purposes across several ministries, but now, due to misplaced outrage, the province is selling the plane and hoping to recoup their costs.

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