Ontario Premier Doug Ford says “no one is more ticked off” than him about the extra $191,000 in sunk costs for the government’s brief purchase of a private jet, but did not say he would cover them.
In mid-April, the province took possession of a second-hand Bombardier Challenger 650 for the premier and cabinet ministers to use, selling it a few days later after public backlash.
The jet cost the government $28.9 million plus tax, the same rate the government was able to sell it back to Bombardier for.
An extra $191,000 in purchase costs incurred by the province, however, were not covered and now look set to come out of the provincial treasury.
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“No one’s more ticked off about the $200 grand,” Ford told reporters at an unrelated event on Monday. “I pride myself on saving taxpayers $12 billion every single year. That’s what we’re going to focus on.”
Ford has said he regrets how he explained his decision to buy the jet and how it was announced, but has suggested that even though he reversed the purchase, it wasn’t a mistake.
The jet was immediately dubbed the “gravy plane” by the government’s political critics, who said the price tag, along with the luxury afforded only to the premier, was an affront to Ontario residents struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.
For weeks, Ford’s opponents have called on either the premier or the Progressive Conservatives to cover the extra costs.
“If he was really ticked off about it, then he’d make somebody pay, not the people of Ontario,” Ontario Liberal interim leader John Fraser said.
“I don’t buy that for a second. This folksy stuff, he’s not more ticked off. If he wasn’t, it wouldn’t have happened. He bought a jet to indulge himself.”
The NDP has also urged Ford to personally foot the bill, but when asked about that at an unrelated press conference today, Ford would not commit to it.
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