Doug Ford’s office warned police forces outside GTA may view helicopter purchase ‘negatively’

The premier’s office was informed that some police services may be unhappy that the province is purchasing helicopters for police forces in the Greater Toronto Area, documents show.

The statement was made in a presentation on purchasing policing helicopters, on a page summarizing “the issue” and “suggested mitigation.” The document was obtained by Queen’s Park Today via a Freedom of Information request.

“Depending on the protocols required to access the helicopters, there could be concerns raised by the police services (Toronto police, Halton police, Durham Regional Police Service, Peel Regional Police),” the document reads.

“Furthermore, more investments in the GTA police services could be viewed negatively by police stakeholders in other parts of the province who may not have access to these resources.”

It’s unclear when this advice was provided to the premier, as the vast majority of documents were redacted or found non-responsive; however, it was before the PC government tabled its 2024 spring budget in March.

In the budget, Premier Doug Ford announced his government would be spending $36 million over three years to purchase four helicopters to “support patrol and improve response times to major incidents and serious crimes” in the Greater Toronto Area.

The documents confirm the PCs had always planned to purchase four aircrafts, noting the four police services in the GTA “would be the beneficiaries” of the policy.

About four months later, the premier announced the government would actually spend $134 million to purchase five police helicopters, and that the new beneficiary would be the Ottawa Police Service.

That helicopter, in addition to the one for the Toronto Police Service, would be acquired by Ontario Provincial Police. The other GTA police services would own and operate their own aircrafts.

In September, the OPP was promised yet another helicopter, which would service northwestern Ontario, bringing the new tally to six. No updated cost projections have been released.

The premier’s office discussed “helicopters” in January 2024 at a communications leadership meeting, documents suggest. The agenda of that meeting was redacted.

Subsequent meetings took place in February and April.

Purchasing helicopters for police services isn’t a new idea for the premier. Back in 2013, when he was city councillor, Ford supported his brother — then-Toronto mayor Rob Ford — when he suggested hiring more police officers and dedicating funding towards aerial support.

“I support the police having planes. I’ll go one step further. We should fund a helicopter for the police,” he told CP24 at the time.

A few years before that, Rob Ford — also a councillor at that time — suggested controversially that Toronto give its police service money to purchase a helicopter, something he claimed “will save people’s lives.”

It’s a line of rhetoric being repeated over a decade later, with Doug Ford now saying the five new helicopters will “be a massive boost to community safety.”

“It will help keep our highways and roadways safe from violent carjackings, auto thefts, street racing and impaired drivers.”