Sunday April 19, 2026 | VICTORIA, BC [2:25 pm PT]
EDITORIAL by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Last week it was in the news that the Government of Ontario had purchased a used jet for use by the Premier of Ontario to get around on doing business for the province.
Then just a few days later — after kerfuffle in the news and petty jabs from opposition politicians, the $28.9 million private aircraft purchase has been cancelled. In a statement this morning, Premier Doug Ford said: “Despite the best of intentions, I have heard and agree that now is not the right time for the expense of a government plane,” he wrote.
“The province is working with Bombardier and other partners to sell the plane as quickly as possible. I will continue the work of building relationships with business and political leaders, both across Canada and in the United States, to fight tariffs, attract investments and create jobs for Ontario workers,” said Ford.
Here is where people’s shortsightedness about how government runs has gummed up dollars and efficiencies, not to mention how partisan politics played into this reversal.
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles had told Toronto-based media that the premier was “out of touch”. She further defended her position: “It wasn’t us raising our voices that made him change his mind. I think it was the fact that Ontarians were flooding his cell phone and his MPP offices with complaints.”
Returning an aircraft is not like returning a bad batch of apples to the grocery store. Not that we’ve done it. But most returns of a large size require administration time and staffing expertise, not to mention the high-end bookkeeping and probably a penalty to pay — if not financial, then certainly political.
Shortfall for Ontario:
Where is this a shortfall for the people of Ontario?
Ontario is a big province. The Premier is required to just ‘show up’ at events and meetings across the province.
As well, premiers in all provinces are making more frequent trips to participate in First Ministers meetings (which aren’t always in Ottawa but held in various locations across the country), and other meetings of national importance (including to the United States at a time when the Canadian economy — of which Ontario is a key player).
One can well imagine that the motivation for this aircraft purchase (which seats 12, and is hardly comparable to “Air Force One” or even the jets that the Canadian prime minister uses) was convenience — of a good kind. So that the premier gets to meetings on time without airport delays, doing the people’s business.
This publication has zero to do with Ontario, we’re located in British Columbia. What has inspired this editorial is the sheer pettiness of the backlash against the purchase of an aircraft.
Modes of transportation:
While most of us, yes, are still puttering about in cars and trucks, people’s whose job it is to be in many different locations over a wide geographical area use planes.
You use a plane if you travel on a vacation or take a business trip or a trip to visit family far away. All of it pollutes the air with jet fuel (a refined kerosene-based product derived from crude oil, consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons) while humanity deals with pollutants and climate change, not to mention another related topic.
Airplanes are used to bring food to your grocery stores and electronics to your retail stores.
It’s surprising there wasn’t a call to have the Ontario premier instead place an order for a horse and buggy.
This is one of the indicators that Canadians are traditional and conservative to a fault. It’s part of the mindset that has been holding us back from investing in our own economy economists have pointed out that since 2000 Canada’s economic productivity has been flat-line). It’s one of the key messages that Canadian astronaut Col Jeremy Hansen delivered from space and in followup news conferences earlier this month — Canadians need to relearn how to think big as a way to get new and better jobs done.
This is not in support of (or against) any political party or premier. It’s about Canadians — and the mainstream media who made hay of this story — not getting their perspective in order on the economic crisis that this country is in — and understanding the mechanics of how business gets done.
In particular, the aircraft purchase was possibly also in response to the increasing uncertainty of the oil market, fuel availability and cost — holding the function of getting to meetings on time (or at all) is within the realm of reliability is just smart business.
Efficient transportation:
Today Prime Minister Mark Carney delivered a pre-taped ‘fireside chat’ on the TV and livestream airwaves. Main thrust? To start motivating Canadians along a long road of economic reform — which is really socioeconomic and cultural reform. If we are to be a country that survives the economic and sovereign threat that the United States has posed to us for over a year now, we need to get cracking!
If it takes having faster more efficient transportation to do that work, so be it. Would it help the current Ontario premier’s political career because he can show up at more event — oh probably.
But that’s another area of growing up that people need to do about how the mechanics of politics gets done in this country. When the prime minister can appear relaxed in ready to do more than more press conference across this vast country in one day, doesn’t anyone ever think about how he gets there?
Not all meetings can be done effectively in a virtual format. Being there in person allows for confidential conversations where much of the important momentum is achieved. And it makes for good photo-ops in a world where photo imagery is key to effective promotions and for the record.
Steering Canada in new directions:
Wake up, Canadians. We are chugging fast along a path to certain demise as an economy and a nation if we don’t fast pick our feet and puts some muscle and some money behind what needs to be done.
We should be grateful that we have people who are willing to step up for the tough job of politics at all. When the milling crowds (and those who politically oppose) stand in the way of people taking on the power it requires to get things done, we shortchange ourselves. The brutality of serving in public office often outweighs the judgement of good people to serve in the trenches of service the country through public service. It’s way many people — particularly women — never get aligned for these roles. Observing how uninformed people stand in the way of bigger goals is, frankly, heartbreaking for this country.
Politicians and government are part of this problem. Especially in North America where populations are coddled into thinking we are separate from the rest of the global populations, separated by vast oceans.
This is now a global economy and interconnected society. Some Canadians travel half way around the world to visit family as if it’s a trip across town. Satellite-enabled technologies ‘take us’ anywhere in the world instantaneously. We live in luxury by way of these technologies. They come at a price — if only by way of hard work, the cost of things, and staying informed about how the world works.
Generally speaking, governments keep us complacent as to the protected socioeconomic circumstances that Canada is blessed with, and to some extent also the United States.
The biggest-picture message that might be gleaned from this editorial is that Canada *is* in fact the best country in the world. We have water, clean air, abundant resources, and most importantly a will among the people to preserve ourselves while respecting cultures and differences among us.
As Carney put forth in a speech after returning from his home-run speech at Davos in January, “Canada thrives because we are Canadian“. It’s about values and grit. Now aligning those with an appropriate level of information about how this country works will help save this country.
Asking more:
People are in many cases preoccupied if not overwhelmed by the challenges of daily living. And many folks don’t pay attention to the nitty gritty of politics at all, having tuned that out long ago in watching the antics of political play and battle.
Let’s ask more of our politicians to make better decisions that serve the best interests of this country, and not worry about how they get to their meetings where a lot of this business is done.
As a first subnote, government communications folks need to do a better job of protecting their politicians and government. Many of them with good salaries are possibly more out of touch with where ‘the people are at’ than their politically-attuned bosses.
And as well, if people are irritated by the perceived luxury of a mode of transportation, perhaps the target of that angst should be the overall economic system that oppresses the success of most people, not any politicians who are possibly attempting to do their best to work the system in favour of the general population.
c===== RELATED:
- Astronaut Jeremy Hansen on mission funding & just doing your best (April 9, 2026)
- Prime Minister Carney: “Canada thrives because we are Canadian” (January 22, 2026)
- Carney’s speech to economic elite makes global headlines (January 21, 2026)
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