“So, so gross.”

That’s how Rebel News commander Ezra Levant summed up Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s decision to “kill whatever remnants of fiscal responsibility he has” by “ordering up (a) luxury intercontinental jet … the kind that maybe a rock star would have,” ostensibly for “hopping around Ontario” — a move that, as it would turn out, would be reversed less than 48 hours later.

“Now, I understand the jets are not just for status, they are a tool for super busy executives,” Levant told his audience.

“I absolutely get that. I mean, for example, they’re not bound by commercial schedules. They go when you’re ready to go, and that means that you can have meetings. it’s a way of really staying connected. That’s not what Ford is doing. Doug Ford is not up at Attawapiskat and up at, you know, Sudbury. He’s not barnstorming the province. This is all about status, not productivity.”

In fact, Levant suggests that Ford’s sudden desire to have “his own jet, instead of bumming rides off his friends,” may have more to do with his future ambitious than his current political duties.

“Doug Ford thinks he can become prime minister,” Levant notes.

“He’s repeatedly said that Mark Carney is his best buddy. He totally supports Mark Carney throughout the federal election. He didn’t just not campaign with Pierre Poilievre. He actively and regularly undermined and attacked Pierre Poilievre … It was nonstop. And by the way, it still continues. And I think Doug Ford constantly provokes Trump. Which is a bizarre thing to do in doing trade negotiations. I think he’s trying to precipitate a reaction from Trump so he can be Captain Canada. Just like Mark Carney is. Doug Ford is awful. And I think if Rob Ford was around, I think he would be appalled at what his brother has become.”

Despite the lighting-round course correction by Ford, who subsequently announced that, after hearing from the public, he now agreed that “now is not the right time for the expense of a government plane,” and pledged to work with Bombardier “and other partners to sell the plane as quickly as possible,” the Rebel team nevertheless managed to launch one of their signature petition drives.

“Premier Doug Ford, (you) promised to stop the gravy train — not board the gravy plane,” it notes. “Ontario taxpayers should not be forced to fund a $30 million private jet for your personal and political travel. Sell the jet, release all costs associated with its use, and commit to using commercial or charter flights like previous premiers. Respect taxpayers — and keep your promise.”

Rebel mission specialist David Menzies offered his own take on the saga of what he dubbed ‘Air Ford One.’

“Behind closed doors and on paper, the idea of Ontario Premier Doug Ford acquiring a luxury jetliner looked like a good idea… to someone… and for reasons that evade me,” he noted.

“But the province’s chief cherry cheesecake enthusiast couldn’t wait to fly the friendly skies in that swank Bombardier Challenger 650. The purchase of the jet was announced on Friday and Ford was flying high. By Sunday, he was doing a mea culpa, apologizing – well, sort of – for squandering almost $30 million in taxpayer funds. And now this whiz-bang jet is for sale – in case anyone has $28.9 million burning a hole in their pocket. Question: who the hell is advising Doug Ford these days? And what was Doug Ford thinking?”

Menzies also found time to swing by what he describes as a closed-door meeting of Greater Toronto Liberal MPs and party officials, including, according to his tipster, the prime minister himself, at a Thornhill, Ont. community centre, that was “so secret that most of the MPs scheduled to attend, including the PM, never showed up.”

In addition to Carney, “the scheduled guests included Energy Minister Tim Hodgson (MP for Markham–Thornhill); Helena Jaczek (MP for Markham–Stouffville); Michael Ma (MP for Markham–Unionville), and Qasir Dar, President of the Liberal Party of Canada in Ontario,” he notes.

“We didn’t see Hodgson or Ma and they certainly were not at the head table of speakers. We think Jaczek maybe snuck in beyond our notice but we’re not sure. Someone said that these MPs likely joined the meeting via Zoom. That way they could avoid a gaggle of demonstrators outside the community centre and of course, that guy with the hat.”

Meanwhile, roving Rebel correspondent Tamara Ugolini made the trek to Cobourg, Ont., for the annual meeting of the Ontario Landowners Association, where attendees “gathered (to) voice strong opposition to the federal government’s proposed $90-billion Alto high-speed rail project,” which, “along with recent Indigenous land claims, are fuelling a revolt,” she warns.

“The project, aimed at linking Toronto and Quebec City, has sparked alarm among rural residents and farmers in eastern Ontario as letters from Alto arrive, requesting access to private land for surveys, soil testing, and environmental assessments,” she reveals.

“Many fear that allowing entry could weaken their legal standing and pave the way for forced takings.”

Also on the agenda: The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) “and its implications for land titles, with one presenter suggesting that “reinterpretations of treaties and ‘unsurrendered’ land claims could undermine Crown patents — the foundational documents granting property rights to settlers — and erode the legal basis of private ownership across Ontario.”

Elsewhere on the site, Alberta-based Rebel Sheila Gunn Reid made a special in-person appearance on Parliament Hill, where, as the site notes, she “delivered a sharp, unapologetic defence of truly independent journalism defined not just by editorial freedom, but by complete separation from government funding and influence” as an invited witness before the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage, which is currently examining the state of Canada’s media and journalism sectors.

“Representing the Independent Press Gallery, she made the case that independence means refusing both state money and state control.”

During a post-committee chat with Levant — who also made the trip to Ottawa to provide real-time updates on Gunn Reid’s testimony — she described the current protocols for covering media events on Parliament Hill as a “closed feedback loop” that “erodes public trust in journalism.”

Rounding out the Rebel roster, B.C.-based reporter Drea Humphrey scored a one-on-one interview with B.C. Conservative leadership hopeful Yuri Fulmer, “a businessman known for owning more than 30 A&W franchises with a background in investment and philanthropy,” on “why he believes he’s the right choice to lead the party at a pivotal moment for the province.”

As her story notes, over the course of the campaign, she’s also spoken to several other candidates, including Kerry-Lynne Findlay, Caroline Elliott, Peter Milobar and Iain Black.

Over at the Post Millennial, Hayden Cunningham flagged Carney’s widely-covered 10-minute “pre-recorded address,” which was released via Youtube over the weekend, and highlighted his comment that Canada’s “current ties with the United States have become a ‘weakness’ that must be addressed,” which “come amid criticisms from US officials over Canada’s trade policies,” he notes.

“Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre sharply criticized Carney’s remarks in a post on X, saying Carney wants to ‘keep Canadians in a state of fear and panic to distract from all of his costly failures at home.’”

Rounding out the right-of-centre online media circuit, Counter Signal correspondent Quinn Patrick files an update on the ongoing bid by Elections Alberta to investigate spending by the Alberta Prosperity Project, including its attempt to seek an injunction that “would force the APP to disclose records related to their finances, including its expenses and donors, in response to allegations that it breached third-party advertising laws.”

“Elections Alberta first launched an investigation into the APP after CEO Mitch Sylvestre and the group’s legal counsel, Jeff Rath met with the U.S. State Department last year. Both men have maintained that while their message has been communicated with Washington, they aren’t engaging in diplomacy on behalf of Alberta, nor do they receive any funding from U.S interests.”

The two men “are also involved with Stay Free Alberta, the group responsible for collecting the nearly 178,000 signatures required to force an independence referendum,” Patrick notes.

Trending on the progressive-left track:

• Ricochet contributor Silas Xuereb makes the case that “Carney’s fuel tax pause,” which will temporarily waive the federal fuel excise tax until Labour Day, “forgoes much needed revenue to invest in real affordability solutions, may increase oil and gas companies’ windfall profits, and is likely to exacerbate Canada’s escalating affordability crisis.”
• Rabble writer Evan Wexler wonders whether the federal New Democratic Party’s “road to redemption (could) go through Beaches – East York,” the Toronto-area riding currently held by Liberal MP Nathaniel Erskine Smith, who is expected to resign his seat to run for the provincial Liberal leadership, and could present an opportunity for newly elected leader Avi Lewis to score a seat of his own in the House of Commons.
• Press Progress labour reporter Emma Arkell takes a closer look at the “mixed signals that Canada Post workers are getting from their union” as they begin voting on a “set of tentative agreements for the second time,” with “a slim majority of the national executive board of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers” advising members to vote in favour, while “most prominent figures in the union, like national president Jan Simpson and negotiator Jim Gallant,” urging workers to vote no.
• Canadian Dimension writer John Clarke warns that the “isolationist backlash” currently simmering in the United States, “which is hailed by some prominent figures and has even gone over to criticism of slavish support for Israel, remains an ugly and dangerous right-wing current that no self-respecting leftist should welcome much less ally themselves with.”