Canada: Ford Reverses Course, Sells Ontario's $21M Jet
The Spin
Pro-government narrative
A government jet for Ontario was never the scandal the outrage machine made it out to be. The province is twice the size of Texas, commercial flights to the north are unreliable and sometimes terrifying, and the premier travels with OPP detail, staff and cabinet ministers who all need seats. At $28.9 million against a $200 billion annual budget, this was a rounding error that would've paid for itself.
Government-critical narrative
Ford caved in two days flat, and that kind of reversal doesn't happen to a premier with political capital to spare. Even members of his own PC caucus are calling this the start of his undoing, and pollsters say the hypocrisy of the man who ran against the "gravy train" buying a gravy plane is the kind of trust-killer that doesn't heal. Eight years in, this government keeps making decisions behind closed doors and getting burned every time.
