Thread by @steffanwatkins

I haven't done one of these nit pick threads in a long time, and this certainly deserves it.

Robert Benzie, "Ontario Buys Used $28.9M Private Jet for Doug Ford: Sources," Toronto Star, April 17, 2026

thestar.com/politics/provi…

This statement does not give me confidence.

Why would anyone believe anything an anonymous senior government official told Robert Benzie?

"It was purchased through Bombardier"

past tense, it's a fait accompli, they claim they bought it already, from Bombardier. Put a pin in that.

I do not for a moment believe the OPP have that level of expertise. It's a hilarious statement to print and take at face value. The plane has been flown as a Mexican then Brazilian charter for the past TEN YEARS *internationally*. They have no idea what it's been doing.

Uncritically framing the King Air as having "limited range" is ridiculous, unless the source is referring to international travel? Shouldn't that prompt more questions about where he's going? A King Air can land anywhere in Ontario, a Challenger 650 needs a longer PAVED runway.

Also, is the King Air in the room with us right now?

The Province Of Ontario, Ministry of the Solicitor General (OPP) have 6 planes registered to them.

The Province Of Ontario, Ministry Of Natural Resources has 28 planes.

No King Airs.
Whose King Air are they afraid of using?

Speaking of the OPP, you know what they're using for their bizjet these days? The Pilatus PC-24 (C-GOGS), it's a bizjet, it's less than half the price of a Challenger 650, AND it can land on shorter gravel runways.
That's why they chose it.

aviation.flights/pilatus/pc24/5…

Charters exist for this use case. They're not THAT expensive for occasional use. It's like buying a motorhome for your once a year vacation; do you really need to buy one, couldn't you rent one when you need it? How many flights is he planning to Texas?

A completely asinine comparison between the Premier's plane and the future Royal Canadian Air Force Bombardier Global 6500 fleet which will be operated by the CAF globally flying the GG, PM, MND, CDS, GOFOs, medical evacuations, repatriations, diplomatic flights, etc.

Oh there it is; why Doug Ford suddenly wants to be able to fly a Challenger 650 into downtown Toronto.

I see no sign Robert Benzie, The Star's Queen’s Park Bureau Chief, consulted anyone but his secret source(s) who used him to soft launch this out of left field Challenger 650 "purchase" for Doug Ford.

He didn't fact-check it with public sources either.

I'll show you.

You know what's public and available to all Canadians? Yes, even you?

The Canadian Civil Aircraft Register

You can look up every Canadian-registered plane, all those planes that start with "C-"

wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/…

If you're complicated, you can run an advanced search, which we need to to isolate all 2016 Bombardier Challengers in Canada.

wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/…

Common Name: Bombardier
Year of Manufacture: 2016

17 results, click sort by "Owner Regist(ered). Since"

The top one, with the newly registered owner on April 10, is C-FBBW, with a listed owner of ACASS Canada Ltd, and a serial number of 6063, and a Mode-S number of #C002D5.

How can we tell if that's the right one? Keep digging.
wwwapps.tc.gc.ca/Saf-Sec-Sur/2/…

Remember that serial number? 6063?
This plane has existed for ten years and travelled internationally. There is no way there aren't a bunch of pictures of it. How do you search for pictures by Serial Number? JetPhotos .net

jetphotos.com/showphotos.php…

The most recent photo is the money shot, it's from a few weeks ago at Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau Int'l Airport after the plane was registered to an American trustee intermediary, which is normal between owners.

jetphotos.com/photo/12036898

Remember Robert's secret source said they took possession of the plane last week?

Well now we have a suspect, which (per pictures) was previously Mexican, then Brazilian registered (check off the "South American" clue) and a Canadian tail number, let's look for where it's been

🇨🇦 2016 Bombardier Challenger C-FBBW #C002D5 (the one pictured above) landed at Pearson on April 15. I've already made a thread below, you can scroll through it, I documented where it's been since it flew to Montreal from Brazil in January.

https://x.com/steffanwatkins/status/2045719484401352962?s=20

This was not hard. It took me minutes to identify the plane on my phone before I had my coffee on Friday morning, still in my gitch.

https://x.com/steffanwatkins/status/2045123248707223724?s=20

Serial# 6063
🇨🇦 C-FUAO (2015)
🇲🇽 XA-GRE #0D09BC (~March 2016)
🇺🇸 N683SC #A90FEF (~June 29, 2021)
🇧🇷 PS-GSI #E497F9 (~August 13, 2021)
🇺🇸 N163JC #A0FD9E (March 4, 2026)
🇨🇦 C-FBBW #C002D5 (April 10, 2026)

Use this URL to look them up over 10 years.
globe.adsbexchange.com/?icao=0d09bc,a…

While this story is still evolving, my current take is that this soft launch of Doug Ford's bizjet was to shock people and distract from scandals, then allow him to "save" Ontario ~$30M when they sole source a charter agreement of some sort with ACASS, who already own the plane.

- The Ontario Gov't is NOT the registered owner of the plane.
- ACASS Canada Ltd owns the only 2016 Challenger that fits the description published by The Star.
- Not verifying or even questioning who owns the plane, or the chain of ownership of the plane, is not journalism.