Ontario’s top civil servant raised concerns about Doug Ford’s visit to Washington D.C. when the Progressive Conservative Party used images from the government-supported trip for partisan commercials and presented a campaign videographer and photographer as government staff, according to a newly-released letter.
The controversy surrounds a mid-campaign trip Ford’s Progressive Conservative team took by private plane to Washington D.C. to join Canada’s premiers on a two-day anti-tariff mission which ended with a visit to the White House.
It came as the government was in caretaker mode — a long-standing convention that prevents a political party from using taxpayer resources for partisan purposes during the writ period.
While the trip itself was funded by the Progressive Conservative Party some portions, including a speech to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and “Fortress Am-Can” brochures, were paid for by taxpayers.
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.
“On the morning of February 14th, when I became aware that the video was posted on social media with the Progressive Conservative Party Campaign slogan and Party logo, I immediately reached out to the Premier’s Chief of Staff to request that the video of the mission not be used for campaign purposes,” DiEmmanuel wrote in a letter to Liberal candidate John Fraser, who requested a review of the trip and video.
Patrick Sackville, Ford’s chief of staff at Queen’s Park, told DiEmmanuel the PC Party campaign slogan and party logo “had been attached in error” and were removed. Sackville reached out to the integrity commissioner to review the issue.
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DiEmmanuel also raised issues with a 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.
“The videographer and photographer present at the Washington events were not Ontario public servants,” the letter stated.
DiEmmanuel, who did not say who added the staff to the list, has now shared her findings with Ontario’s integrity commissioner and with the chief electoral officer.
The Ontario Liberals said the situation is an example of Ford playing “fast and loose with the rules.”
“Of course there are new questions about his photo ops in Washington. It’s what Ford does,” said a spokesperson for the Liberal party. “He has zero regard for Ontario taxpayers and even less for the rules and conventions of our democracy.”
The Progressive Conservative Party declined to answer questions about the letter and directed any questions to the premier’s office instead.
While Ford’s two trips to Washington in February were pre-planned, opposition parties raised red flags about the potential misuse of taxpayer funds for partisan purposes.
Ford defended the trips saying he was cleared by the integrity commissioner, a point that was reiterated by DiEmmanuel who also shared her view that the trade-mission fell under the umbrella of “urgent business.”
“Urgent business includes any actions or decisions that may be required by the government, in the public interest, to address a threat or other urgent matter,” DiEmmanuel wrote in the letter.
DiEmmanuel made a point of defending Ford’s visit to Washington and any taxpayer-funded support given to the PC leaders on his visit there. The public service, she said, was involved in the meetings with the Council of the Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce event but fell within the standard duties of the civil service.
“The support provided by Ontario public servants to the Washington mission was reviewed by our Election Period Committee and was consistent with the organizational and logistical support public servants provide on government missions,” DiEmmanuel said in the letter.
The top civil servant also highlighted that “58 per cent of the attendees at the Chamber of Commerce event were from the United States” and that the Canadian attendees at the event had “significant U.S. interests.”
The letter did not state who financed the trip for the 38 per cent of the attendees who were from Ontario.
DiEmmanuel has not responded to a request for comment from Global News in time for publication.
