Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he was not aware that the Progressive Conservative party spent $3,000 on travelling to Jamaica to spy on Bonnie Crombie shortly after she became leader of the Liberal party in 2023 and does not approve of the tactic.
POLICORNER and The Trillium reported on Thursday that the PC party paid for someone to go to the resort Crombie was staying at during a three-day vacation as part of “opposition research work.”
The outlets both cited sources who agreed with the characterization that the trip was undertaken to “spy on” Crombie, just six days after the Ontario Liberal party selected her as their leader.
CTV News has not independently confirmed the reporting.
Asked about the expense during a press conference in Guelph on Thursday, Ford said he was only made aware of it on Wednesday.
“I just found out yesterday. You would have to talk to the party about it. It was $3,000 of the party’s money and I did not know until yesterday,” he said. “But talk to the party. I don’t approve of it but that is neither here nor there. That was $3,000 of the party’s money.”
Ford said during the press conference that he wanted to “emphasize” that the $3,000 expense was “the party’s money.”
However, in Ontario, political parties do receive a per-vote subsidy, meaning that a portion of their budget is made up of taxpayer dollars.
“You would have to talk to the party. I wouldn’t do it but again things happen. It is no different than myself when the media has followed me down to Florida, they followed me to Chicago, New Jersey, and so on and so forth, at a lot higher cost. But you know something it is politics. It is $3,000, I found out yesterday and that is it,” Ford said.
The PC party issued a statement on the day Crombie became Liberal leader in which it said that she “doesn’t get the concerns of everyday people” and “drives fancy cars and vacations at her home in the Hamptons.”
The party then launched an attack ad campaign that portrayed Crombie as an “elite.” Crombie, for her part, later told The Canadian Press that the campaign showed a “lack of civility” on the part of the PC party.
In a statement posted to social media on Thursday, NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the reported trip to spy on Crombie “disgusting.”
She added that Ford should “not get to shrug it off.”
“Spying on a woman who is one of your political opponents on her private vacation is creepy Trump-style politics that has no place here,” Stiles said. “Women already face enough barriers in politics without this kind of behaviour. Somebody signed off on that expense, and he knows exactly who. Heads need to roll.”
Meanwhile, Liberal MPP Stephanie Smyth said on social media that the tactic was “beyond disturbing.”
“How low will they go? The bar keeps getting lower and lower …," she wrote.
Ford was asked on Thursday whether similar tactics would continue to be employed in Ontario and replied “I hope not,” though he added that “stuff happens during elections.”
