Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office is facing allegations that it used its “leverage and power” over a company receiving taxpayer funds to extract a political benefit ahead of the 2025 election, Global News has confirmed.
The allegation, made by former Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey, was submitted to the OPP in a sworn statement in May. The claim comes as Keel Digital Solutions, a company owned by his son,
Rob Godfrey, faces an OPP investigation into the handling of an Ontario government contract. That investigation is ongoing.
The Ford government has been engaged in a fierce $25.9 million legal battle with Keel – a platform that offers mental health support on post secondary campuses – alleging the company misled the province to receive millions in additional funding it wasn’t owed. The company, which is now in receivership, has denied any fraud and countersued for $100 million.
According to Keel Digital Solutions, in late 2024, officials within the Ministry of Colleges and Universities submitted a three-year funding request to the treasury board based on the company’s past success. Paul Godfrey claims the premier’s office sought to use the funding as a means to gain a political advantage.
In January 2025, as Premier Ford was preparing to call a snap election, Rob Godfrey allegedly received a phone call from Ford’s then Chief of Staff Patrick Sackville to discuss the funding along with a “favour.”
“Sackville had communicated to Rob that he would have the three-year agreement approved once the audit of his company was complete, however in the meantime, the Premier needed a favour from Postmedia,” Paul Godfrey said in the letter to the OPP, shared with Global News.
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“The Premier wanted to make his case to voters for calling an early election … the Premier wanted to publish a letter to voters in all Ontario Postmedia newspapers before he officially called the election.”
Sackville, in a text message to Global News, said “categorically no. The allegation is entirely false.”
In a statement, the Premier’s Office called the allegations “categorically untrue and completely disconnected from reality.”
“The premier regularly contributes op-eds to a range of leading publications, including National Post, Financial Post, the Sun chain, the Toronto Star, Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal,” the premier’s office said.
Godfrey’s letter claims that the Progressive Conservatives were looking to offer Ontarians context for the early election call and avoid having to incur a campaign expense by purchasing premium space in a national newspaper.
While Rob Godfrey insists it didn’t amount to a “quid pro quo,” Sackville’s words were seen as a “threat.”
“It was understood that: if Postmedia did not print the letter to voters that Mr. Sackville would not be motivated to take the steps to ensure the three-year proposal was approved,” Godfrey’s letter states.
“I have spent an entire career either in or around politics. I understood what this demand from the Premier’s office meant. This was using political leverage and power over a small company to extract a benefit that Keel had no ability to provide,” Paul Godfrey said in the statement.
Godfrey said while he was “uncomfortable” with the request he fulfilled it in order to “help both parties,” citing his desire to see both his son and the Progressive Conservatives succeed.
On Jan. 28 – one day before the snap election was called – Ford’s “special to the National Post” byline was carried by the newspaper chain making the case that he needed a “strong mandate” to protect the province from American tariffs.
Soon after the election, which delivered Ford a third majority mandate, Paul Godfrey says he spoke with the Premier who made a direct link to the Postmedia article.
“The Premier thanked me and said it couldn’t have been done without Postmedia’s help at the outset of the election,” the letter to the OPP said.
“It was as if the Premier was making the point that we were somehow friends and that he had not just used a contract for my son’s company to get what he wanted from Postmedia.”
In a statement to Global News, Postmedia said it has “no knowledge of the background events described by Mr. Godfrey” and said opinion pieces from major political figures are only published it its includes a stance that’s of public interest.
“As staff in many political offices have in the past, members of the Premier’s Office reached out to the CEO of Postmedia to explore the potential of publishing an opinion editorial from the Premier explaining his rationale for calling an election earlier than scheduled,” Postmedia said in a statement.
“Upon receiving that request, he passed it onto our editorial team for consideration. No commercial consideration would ever be required for the Premier, or any political figure, to share their opinion in our editorial pages.”
Multiple political insiders — some close to Premier Ford’s office — have questioned the premise of the allegations, suggesting that any newspaper would run an opinion article from the premier of a province, and voters wouldn’t be casting ballots solely based on a pre-election piece.
Source: globalnews.ca
