TheGravy Plane

The Challenger 650 is Bombardier's flagship mid-size business jet — the most evolved model in a lineage stretching back to the Challenger 600 of 1978. The 650 variant, introduced in 2015, features a redesigned interior with one of the widest cabins in its class, a Rockwell Collins ProLine 21 Advanced Flight Deck, and more powerful engines than its predecessor the Challenger 605.

With a range of approximately 7,400 kilometres, the aircraft can fly non-stop from Toronto to London Heathrow, or reach most destinations in the continental United States and Canada without refuelling.

The Ontario government purchased this specific aircraft directly from Bombardier. It was formerly owned by an entity in South America. Both the Ontario Provincial Police and Bombardier performed security and mechanical inspections prior to purchase. The province says no upgrades were required.

The irony driving opposition outrage is impossible to miss. Doug Ford built much of his political brand — inherited from his brother, the late Toronto mayor Rob Ford — on attacking government waste, or as the Fords put it, the "gravy train." When Ontario's NDP leader Marit Stiles labelled the jet the "Gravy Plane," she was twisting Ford's own language back at him.

As recently as 2019, Ford publicly pushed back on using a government aircraft at all, saying he would rather drive across the province. His office instead kitted out a custom Ontario Provincial Police van — complete with a 32-inch Blu-ray television, mini fridge, and leather power-reclining sofa — which drew its own wave of ridicule. The NDP dubbed it the "pleasure wagon."

The government's defence is that a premier's time has value, Ontario is geographically massive, and the per-jet cost compares favourably with Quebec's $107M fleet and the federal government's $753M fleet of six Global 6500 jets. Ford's office also insists the plane will only be used for government business, not personal travel.

Critics, however, point to the timing: the purchase was confirmed the same week Ford's government is pursuing plans to take over Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and allow private jets to land there — a facility currently restricted to propeller aircraft. NoJetsTO, a citizen group opposing the takeover, alleged the two moves are "not a coincidence."

Perhaps the most pointed irony was the original entry-into-service date: the plane was expected to be operational by the end of July — the height of cottage season. Ford is well known to spend significant portions of the summer at his cottage in the Muskokas. Muskoka Airport (YQA), a jet-capable airport near Bracebridge roughly 15 minutes from cottage country, is equipped to receive the Challenger 650. That plan has now been abandoned following the reversal — but the plane remains in Canada, and a charter arrangement could still achieve the same result. Whether C-FBBW, or any aircraft chartered by the Ontario government, appears at YQA on a summer weekend remains a question worth asking.

There is one more layer of irony worth noting. Ford has publicly acknowledged a fear of flying — specifically of small propeller aircraft. During press conferences with Northern Ontario First Nations communities, he explained that turbulence on single-engine prop planes left him gripping his seat in terror. The Challenger 650, with its large cabin, twin jet engines, and smooth high-altitude cruise, is as far from a single-prop bush plane as aviation gets. The $28.9M purchase may be, at least in part, a very expensive solution to a personal anxiety.

History has not been kind to Ontario premiers who bought Challengers. In 1981, Bill Davis purchased a $10.6M Challenger jet at the height of a major recession. After more than a year of relentless opposition pressure he traded it for a pair of water bombers — and four years later the PC dynasty that had governed Ontario for 42 consecutive years was finished. Globe and Mail political columnist John Ibbitson made the parallel explicit on April 22, noting that Ford risks repeating the pattern and should consider retiring rather than attempt an unprecedented fourth consecutive PC majority.

Just 48 hours after the Ontario government confirmed the $28.9 million jet purchase, Premier Doug Ford announced a full reversal. In a statement released Sunday morning, Ford said the province would move to sell the aircraft immediately, working with Bombardier and "other partners" to find a buyer.

On Monday April 20, speaking at a Canadian Chamber of Commerce summit in Ottawa — a trip he made on an OPP jet — Ford doubled down on his defiance while acknowledging the misstep. He claimed he has directed staff to sell the plane at the same price Ontario paid. "We haven't touched the plane, so it should be worth the same," he said — though he hedged moments later, saying the province would "hopefully" recover the full amount.

The Ottawa trip itself generated a fresh wave of criticism: observers noted Ford already had access to an OPP jet for provincial travel, raising the obvious question of why a $28.9M Challenger 650 was necessary at all. Ford has routinely used OPP aircraft for travel within Ontario and to the US — a fact his office did not volunteer when announcing the purchase.

Ford also repeatedly pointed to Quebec's $107M fleet as justification, alleging a media double standard. That comparison unravelled on April 21 when CBC Montreal confirmed that Quebec's jets are used for medical evacuations, not for the premier's travel. Quebec's premier flies commercial.

A further embarrassment emerged on April 22: a CBC analysis found that the Challenger 650 requires a runway length that many remote Ontario communities simply cannot accommodate. One of Ford's stated justifications was the need to visit remote First Nations communities in the north. The plane he bought cannot land at many of those communities.

Meanwhile, the Globe and Mail's opinion section described Ford as "made of Jell-O," and Global News reported that PC party insiders are alarmed: "He's eradicated his brand. This is the start of his undoing."

Most pointedly, veteran Globe and Mail political columnist John Ibbitson drew a direct historical parallel that will sting in PC circles: in 1981, Premier Bill Davis purchased a $10.6M Challenger jet at the height of a major recession. After more than a year of opposition pressure, he traded it for a pair of water bombers. Four years later the PC dynasty that had governed Ontario for 42 years was over. Ibbitson's conclusion: "The debacle of purchasing a government jet helped do in one Progressive Conservative dynasty. Mr. Ford may want to consider his future, lest it happen again." His advice — retire now, before seeking a fourth consecutive majority that no Ontario premier has managed since Oliver Mowat in the 1890s.