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Former Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie declined to comment on Thursday, but she confirmed that she travelled to a resort in Jamaica from Dec. 8 to 11, 2023, after the Ontario Liberal leadership race.Keito Newman/The Globe and Mail
Ontario Premier Doug Ford played down revelations Thursday that his Progressive Conservative Party spent thousands to trail former Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie on a vacation to Jamaica in December, 2023.
At an unrelated press conference in Guelph, Ont., Mr. Ford said he only learned of the incident this week, saying he doesn’t condone it but adding that it was the party’s money.
Online outlets The Trillium and Policorner reported Thursday that the PC Party sent an operative to surveil Ms. Crombie in Jamaica shortly after she won the Liberal leadership. Ms. Crombie was also the mayor of Mississauga at the time before resigning in January, 2024.
The allegations sparked condemnation from opposition parties, who accused Mr. Ford’s party of intimidation and misogyny.
The Premier’s government is also facing questions about MPP expenses, after it was revealed that several Toronto-area PC MPPs billed tens of thousands for hotel stays in recent years. Former tourism minister Stan Cho resigned from Mr. Ford’s cabinet last month in the wake of the controversy, but none of the other MPPs have stepped down.
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In relation to the Jamaica incident, Mr. Ford said Thursday that, “It was $3,000 of the party’s money, and I didn’t know until yesterday,” he told reporters, adding that, “I don’t approve of it.”
Mr. Ford said he doesn’t oversee every dollar spent on campaigns. He added that it was PC money, but critics pointed out that political parties also receive taxpayer-funded per-vote subsidies, on top of donor money.
“I have talked to the party. I wouldn’t do it, but again, things happen,” Mr. Ford said. He also alleged that the media followed him to Florida, Chicago and New Jersey, without elaborating or providing evidence.
A copy of the PC Party’s 2023 annual financial statement, provided by the Ontario NDP, detailed office and administration expenses of $1,000.05 at the Ocean Eden Bay Hotel and $1,971.67 at the Royalton Negril Hotel, also in Jamaica.
Ms. Crombie declined to comment on Thursday. But she confirmed that she travelled to Ocean Eden Bay from Dec. 8 to 11, 2023, for “a little bit of down time” after the Ontario Liberal leadership race, with her then-partner, his family and some of his Remax realtor agents who were attending a conference.
Mr. Ford’s party on Thursday defended its tactics. “The Ontario PC Party, like other political parties, conducts opposition research. In this instance, that work included travel to Jamaica in December, 2023,” party spokesman Peter Turkington said in an e-mail.
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The Premier’s Office previously told The Trillium and Policorner that “anyone involved no longer works for the government or for the party.”
At the same time as the Jamaica trip, the Progressive Conservatives were attempting to paint Ms. Crombie as an elitist.
Opposition parties on Thursday expressed outrage that the PCs would have followed Ms. Crombie on her private time.
“This is beyond inappropriate. Doug Ford needs to explain why he thought it was acceptable to orchestrate having a woman stalked out of the country while she was on a personal trip,” Interim Liberal Leader John Fraser said in a statement. “This isn’t politics. This is creepy, disturbing behaviour and a complete abuse of power.”
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles called the incident “disgusting.”
“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,” Ms. Stiles said in a statement on X.
“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.”
Former Ontario Liberal premier Kathleen Wynne said on NewsTalk 1010 Thursday that the incident crossed a line, and she questions whether the PCs would have followed Ms. Crombie’s main male challenger on vacation if he had won the leadership instead of her.
“I really believe right now that we’re living in a period of increased or renewed permission for misogyny,” she said.
Ms. Crombie, who quit as Liberal leader in January, is now running again for Mississauga mayor, a post she held for three terms before leaving for provincial politics.
With a report from The Canadian Press