The Ford government says the decision to quickly sell off a $28.5 million private aircraft, purchased by Ontario taxpayers for the premier’s primary use, was made after Progressive Conservative MPPs received a flood of irate messages from voters.

The premier’s office originally said the government purchased the pre-owned Bombardier Challenger 650 last week to transport Premier Doug Ford across the country and into the United States.

They argued he needed to attend key meetings with fellow premiers, the Prime Minister, and American lawmakers during the trade war with the Trump administration.

The jet was immediately dubbed the “gravy plane” by the government’s political critics, who said the price tag, along with the luxury afforded only to the premier, was an affront to Ontario residents struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

The purchase lasted barely two days in public before the government was forced to reverse course.

House Leader Steve Clark said the PC Party heard a “tremendous amount from the public,” and the massive-ranging backlash was enough to convince Ford to back down.

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On Sunday, Ford issued a statement saying “despite the best intentions,” he was told by voters that “now is not the right time for the expense of a government plane” and agreed to sell off the jet “as quickly as possible.”

While Clark stopped short of calling the decision a mistake, he acknowledged the government had made the wrong choice.

“No government makes it correct every time, no government is perfect,” Clark told the Ontario Legislature.

“It shows leadership when our premier recognizes that a decision needs to be changed, and he changes it.”

Still, the Ontario NDP called the decision “indefensible.”

“The Premier’s emergency landing, reselling his brand new luxury jet, is raising more questions than it has answered,” said NDP Leader Marit Stiles. “We deserve to know how every dollar was spent on this greedy scheme, including the penalties, including the resale losses.”

The official opposition tabled a motion asking the premier to personally pay for any additional costs related to the jet and to offer the public maximum transparency on the cost to “purchase, outfitting and reselling of the government’s recently purchased private jet.”

The motion, which required unanimous consent to pass, was shot down by Progressive Conservative MPPs.

Ontario Liberal leader said the reversal was forced by the intensity of the response, not a realization from the government that it was a mistake.

“They defended it on Friday,” he said. “They said it was the right thing to do. It was frivolous, unnecessary, especially at a time when people are struggling in general.”

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