Ontario Premier Doug Ford dismissed criticism on Thursday after reports revealed that the Progressive Conservative party spent $3,000 to surveil newly elected Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie during a 2023 vacation in Jamaica. According to reporting by The Trillium and POLICORNER, party staff followed Crombie to a Caribbean resort just six days after she won the provincial Liberal leadership on December 2, 2023, to gather opposition research for potential attack ads.
Ford Denies Knowledge and Downplays Party Spending
Speaking at a press conference in Guelph on Thursday, according to the Toronto Star, Premier Ford stated that he was unaware of the surveillance operation until Wednesday and did not approve it. Ford downplayed the controversy by focusing on the financial cost, repeatedly emphasizing that the trip utilized “$3,000 of the party’s money,” as reported by CTV News.
“Talk to the party. I don’t approve of it… That was $3,000 of the party’s money. But thank you for the question,” Ford told reporters, according to the Toronto Star. When asked if similar tactics would continue, Ford remarked that “stuff happens during elections,” despite the provincial vote remaining more than a year away in 2025.
While Ford framed the expenditure strictly as internal party funds, political parties in Ontario receive public funding through a per-vote taxpayer subsidy. According to CTV News records, the Progressive Conservative party received more than $5.1 million in taxpayer dollars in 2023.
Opposition Parties Condemn Surveillance Tactics
Opposition leaders sharply criticized the surveillance operation, characterizing it as an unacceptable breach of privacy. NDP Leader Marit Stiles released a statement on social media calling the trip “disgusting” and arguing that Ford should “not get to shrug it off,” according to CTV News.
“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 stated, as reported by CTV News. “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.”
Liberal MPP Stephanie Smyth similarly denounced the tactics during a Queen’s Park press conference covered by CTV News, describing the operation as a “violation” and “the lowest of the low.” Smyth questioned who authorized the spending and directed the operation.
Broader Context of PC Attacks on Crombie
The surveillance operation aligns with an aggressive messaging campaign launched by the Progressive Conservatives following Crombie’s victory as Liberal leader. On the day of her election, the PC party issued a statement claiming Crombie “doesn’t get the concerns of everyday people” because she “drives fancy cars and vacations at her home in the Hamptons,” according to CTV News.
Tory sources speaking anonymously to the Toronto Star indicated that the photographs captured during the Jamaica trip—featuring Crombie and her then-boyfriend at the resort—were intended for a multimillion-dollar attack ad campaign designed to portray her as out of touch with voters. Crombie later characterized the attack ads to The Canadian Press as evidence of a “lack of civility” by the PC party. Crombie subsequently stepped down from the Liberal leadership in January and is currently running in the Mississauga mayoral race.
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