Ontario taxpayers were on the hook for a six-figure bill covering Premier Doug Ford’s high-profile trip to Washington, D.C., during the snap winter election campaign, Global News can reveal, reviving accusations that the Progressive Conservative Party relied on government resources during its re-election bid.

Ford faced criticism in February after the PC Party appeared to disregard the government’s caretaker convention by taking two separate trips to the U.S. capital after the writs had been drawn up.

His political opponents said Ford — who had chosen the timing of the election — was using the threat of tariffs from U.S. President Donald Trump to justify publicly-funded events during the campaign, which blurred the line between party and government.

Both the NDP and the Liberals filed complaints to election officials and legislative watchdogs claiming the trips to D.C. were a violation of longstanding rules, which say campaigning premiers and cabinet ministers should strictly limit any functions linked to government.

While the Progressive Conservative campaign said the trips — from Ford’s travel to accommodation and campaign staff — were funded by the party, new invoices and payments obtained by Global News show parts still relied heavily on public funding.

The documents, accessed using freedom of information laws, reveal events starring Ford in the United States cost the public close to $100,000 — plus thousands more which was spent to bring civil servants to the U.S. to coordinate Government of Ontario events.

The invoices seen by Global News covered promotional material, catering, sound and display systems, as well as venue hire.

Ontario Liberal MPP John Fraser said he felt the trips were a violation of traditions which forbid sitting governments who are campaigning for re-election from using public resources or titles.

“There’s such a thing as the caretaker convention,” he said. “I don’t think you’ve seen any other political leader in my memory and history — in history — go to another country in the middle of a campaign.

The premier’s office said some expenses were covered by the Progressive Conservative Party, others were paid by the province.

“As is the case for any official trip by the Premier, the Government of Ontario covered expenses for the event and any support provided by public officials,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

“The PC Party paid for all expenses incurred by political staff who accompanied the Premier, including accommodation and flights.”

Almost two weeks after calling a snap winter election, Ford and his campaign team chartered a plane to fly from Toronto to Washington, D.C., for the PC leader and caretaker premier to take part in a meeting with Canada’s other first ministers.

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Along with his meetings with other premiers, Ford headlined two events in the capital designed to drum up political and business support for Ontario and the premier’s vision of an integrated energy and critical mineral plan.

On Feb. 11, Ford appeared at an event hosted by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, where he discussed his plan to sell more electricity and critical minerals to companies in the United States.

The pitch was government policy before Ford dissolved the legislature, and simultaneously a central plank of his election campaign.

Documents show the fireside chat, where Ford took questions from travelling media and discussed his Fortress Am-Can vision, came at a substantial cost to the public purse.

Printing just over 1,000 bound copies of the Fortress Am-Can plan cost taxpayers $13,158.58. The order was put in with the printers on Jan. 24, the day Ford publicly confirmed he would be calling an early election.

The Ontario government also shelled out $23,055.54 USD (equivalent to around $31,000 CAD) to rent out the venue where the fireside chat was held. The chamber of commerce previously confirmed to Global News it did not charge the government anything for its role in moderating the event.

Later that day, Ford held a reception at the U.S. Library of Congress to meet with senior American politicians in an effort to boost his message.

That event cost just over $11,500 in audio and visual services and $18,222.50 in drinks and catering costs. Renting out the venue came to almost $6,000, according to the documents. Roughly converted from U.S. dollars to Canadian, the second event cost $48,500.

The documents obtained by Global News also show as many as 13 civil servants — ranging from senior diplomatic staff to IT support — were involved in the mission.

Some were already based in Washington, D.C., while others were flown from Toronto, put up in hotels and reimbursed for meals and travel. Those costs added thousands more to the public tab for the first trip.

Fraser said Ford had relied on his role as caretaker premier to run his re-election bid against Trump, instead of on domestic issues.

“Mr. Ford thought that was advantageous — they filmed a commercial down there, they appeared on multiple television shows, which were rebroadcast or promoted to by watched by the premier himself through his social media channels,” he said.

“I don’t think the premier has a problem spending taxpayers’ money on himself or his party.”

The premier’s office said the purpose of the mission was to explain Ford’s vision of integrated Canadian-American business to various leaders in Washington, D.C.

“President Trump’s tariffs will cost the economy and families on both sides of the border billions,” the spokesperson said.

“With the threat of tariffs looming, Premier Ford brought his vision of Fortress Am-Can directly to key administration officials, business leaders and decision-makers in Washington. This included deepening Ontario’s relationships with key senators and governors who can influence trade policies toward Canada.”

Fraser questioned what Ford had achieved during his trip to D.C. in February.

“What did the premier come back with? What’s the evidence of that being an effective way to tell our story?” he asked.

“I think it’s arguable to say he came back with nothing. I think it was highly unusual to do that in the middle of a campaign; the premier clearly thought that was advantageous to him during the campaign.”

Fraser also pointed to $103.5 million the province spent on commercials last year, which the auditor general found were “designed to promote the governing party.”  They were paused once the campaign began.

The revelations of exactly how much the public spent on Ford’s trip to Washington, D.C., come after a campaign in which Ford’s opponents cried foul, claiming the Progressive Conservative Party leader was using the U.S.-Canada crisis to blur the lines between government and campaign.

At the time, Ford said he had cleared the mission with the legislature’s watchdog and that the premier and campaign team’s travel had all been paid for by the party.

“I got cleared by the integrity commissioner but that’s (neither) here nor there,” Ford said on Feb. 11 in Washington. “The Canadian people want us here, not just Ontarians, Canadians. They want all the representatives, all their premiers here.”

Ford, however, did find himself on the wrong side of Ontario’s top civil servant, who issued a stern warning after his campaign sent a videographer on the trip and used the footage in an election video.

Shortly after returning, the PC Party pushed a new campaign commercial to social media highlighting Ford, along with Progressive Conservative candidates Vic Fedeli and Stephen Lecce, walking through Washington, speaking with the Chamber of Commerce and meeting with premiers.

The commercial, which ended with the PC party logo and campaign slogan “Protect Ontario,” immediately caught the attention of Michelle DiEmmanuel, Ontario’s Secretary of Cabinet, who ordered its removal.

She published a frosty letter, in which she said she had reached out to the Progressive Conservatives and told them to remove the video.

The video was quickly removed, and the PC campaign said it had added its logo to the end of the video “in error.”

DiEmmanuel also raised issues with the videographer and photographer who travelled to Washington with Ford under the guise of being government employees but were, instead, campaign staff.

The two campaign staffers were “added to the list of staff attending the mission events by the Premier’s Office,” which, DiEmmanuel said, was an “error” because neither was part of the premier’s office caretaker staff.

Jane Woodcock says when her husband died in 2018, she quickly realized she did not have enough income to support herself and their five animals.

In 2019, just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the 68-year-old Woodcock started to see the price of everything rise, leading her to find a job as a cleaner to help cover costs.

The Deseronto, Ont., resident told Global News she’d never imagined she would find herself in this position.

“I thought I’d be retired because my husband died seven years ago and before that I wasn’t working, he was working and supporting both of us and all the animals,” she said.

A 2024 report from Resume Builder found that four in 10 working seniors have unretired.

1:19
‘My paycheck might only cover daycare’: Ontario family struggles as cost of living climbs

The report shows that 39 per cent of seniors who are employed have returned to work after retirement, while the other 61 per cent have never retired.

The report says the top reason seniors are returning to work are the cost living increases and insufficient retirement savings.

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Woodcock has two dogs, two cats, and a potbellied pig, and says food to feed herself and her pets is getting out of control.

“Every time I go into the grocery store stuff that I was always buying before; it’s like double the price and just piss me off,” she remarked.

Woodcock estimates she spends $400 a month just for food on the pig, while costs for the other animals also skyrocketed “ridiculously” high.

She has also had to make hard cuts in other areas of her life, like getting rid of cable and being cautious when she runs her heating and air conditioning.

“People should be able to live properly. If you’re hot, you should be allowed to turn on the air conditioner, if you’re cold turn up the heat…. It’s just too much,” she said.

Between her job and survivors pension she gets from her late husband, she has about $4,000 a month to cover expenses but she said between still has a mortgage, to paying for insurance and food that quickly disappears.

“It’s a mix, and it’s still not enough.”

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A proposed road to the mineral-rich Ring of Fire in northern Ontario will bring economic prosperity to Webequie First Nation, though it may endanger caribou in the region, a newly released assessment finds.

Webequie First Nation is leading an environmental and impact assessment of the Webequie Supply Road that would connect to mining exploration activities in the Ring of Fire.

That road will connect to two other proposed roads that would link the remote First Nation to the provincial highway system hundreds of kilometres south.

“This is a critical milestone for our people and our project,” Chief Cornelius Wabasse said in a statement.

“We are proud of this important work and the respectful approach taken to get it done. We are also grateful for all those who support Webequie’s journey to self-determination, economic self-reliance and a better future for our people.”

The work and subsequent draft report were done under the province’s Environmental Assessment Act and the federal Impact Assessment Act. The report is thousands of pages long and has been shared with 22 other First Nations in northern Ontario for a 60-day review period, which will be followed by a final report filed to both levels of government.

The assessment examined how the natural and socioeconomic environments, Indigenous land use and traditional knowledge of the area would be affected by building the supply road.

The 107-kilometre, two-lane road will take four to six years to complete once construction begins and will need six bridges and 25 culverts to cross various bodies of water, the report said.

The proposed road will run northwest-southeast for 51 kilometres from the First Nation’s airport to the next segment that will run 56 kilometres east-west to McFaulds Lake and the Eagle’s Nest mineral exploration site.

The proposed mine is owned by Wyloo, an  Australian mining company with its Canadian operations based in Toronto.

The road is expected to last 75 years, after which major refurbishments will be needed.

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The projected construction costs to the province are $663 million, though it’s unclear yet who will own the road and who will be allowed to use it. The First Nation said those details will come in future negotiations with Ontario.

“Our vision for the Webequie Supply Road is an economic development road that creates real opportunities for our young people and future generations to drive to work and back,” Wabasse said.

“This project offers possibilities to provide skills training for our youth, create new jobs and business opportunities, and strengthen Webequie’s economic future while remaining deeply connected to our land and traditions.”

The report assumes construction would start in the winter of 2028 and be complete by the summer of 2032, though a start date has yet to be announced.

The report comes amid great debate about mining in northern Ontario.

Premier Doug Ford’s government recently passed Bill 5 into law with the aim to speed up development of mining and other projects. The new legislation has been met with outrage and resistance from First Nations.

The government has given itself the power to suspend provincial and municipal laws through the creation of so-called “special economic zones” for projects it chooses.

The province intends to designate the Ring of Fire the first such zone, though it has said it will not do so until it consults with First Nations in the region. Details about how that would actually work are sparse.

The Webequie Supply Road is expected to have a significantly positive effect on the First Nation’s economy during construction and beyond, the assessment found.

“Community members have emphasized the issues of unemployment and the lack of growth and learning opportunities,” the report said.

“With the anticipated road access connectivity from the project, potential economic growth is expected, leading to job opportunities for community members, allowing them to work closer to home.”

The province has pledged some $70 million to help train Indigenous workers for jobs in development and mining. Wyloo also trains its workers who are conducting mineral exploration at the Eagle’s Nest site.

Other mining and forestry opportunities are likely to arise once the road is built, the report found.

By and large, the threats to animals and plants from road construction are not considered significant, except for a few species at risk that include the boreal caribou.

There are about 5,000 caribou left in the province, the vast majority of them in northern Ontario. Webequie First Nation and the proposed road are within that animal’s range.

The species is considered threatened in Ontario, which means it could become endangered if protective steps are not taken.

Construction and operation of the road is “expected to provide predators such as wolves increased access to the caribou, particularly where the road traverses natural movement corridors,” the report said.

“Overall, caribou injury or death due to changes to predator-prey dynamics from the project is considered a significant adverse effect based on current vulnerability of the population,” the report found.

The construction of the road will also change the caribou’s habitat, it said.

Road construction will also affect another threatened species, wolverines, the report found. There are only two known mature female wolverines in the entire study area. One den is within 400 metres of the proposed road site and “will likely lose function as denning habitat due to the indirect effects of clearing activities.”

About half of the proposed road is in the James Bay Lowlands, which is dominated by peatlands, a weak material to build a road upon. Engineers have decided a “floating road” is the best option, done by “carefully loading materials over peat, allowing time for it to consolidate and increase in strength.”

While building the road will have an effect on all parts of the environment, much of that will be negligible with proper mitigation efforts, the report found.

For example, the report said fish and their habitat will not be significantly affected as crews build the six bridges and 25 culverts because construction barriers will be temporary.

The First Nation is also concerned the road will bring more alcohol and illicit drugs to the community, and said it will try to limit access to outsiders during construction as much as possible.

“Webequie First Nation remains committed to an Indigenous-led approach that supports responsible development while upholding our environmental stewardship responsibilities,” its chief said.