> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Ontario Premier’s Office Faces Election Benefit Allegations Over Keel Contract - URL: https://www.thecanadareport.ca/ontario-keel-contract-allegations/ - Published: 2026-10-08T15:36:51.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-08T15:41:30.000Z - Description: Ontario Keel contract allegations emerge as a sworn statement claims political pressure before the 2025 provincial election. - Author: Steve Cogbill - Tags: Daily News, Ontario | Sourced from 3 independent sources · no points in dispute | | --------------------------------------------------------- | Global News, The Deep Dive, and Toronto Today Every key fact in this report is confirmed by more than one independent source. 10 key facts · 10 corroborated · none disputed Allegations described here are not proven in court unless stated. Former Postmedia CEO Paul Godfrey has alleged that Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s office used its “leverage and power” over his son’s company to secure a political benefit before the 2025 provincial election. The allegation, contained in a sworn statement submitted to police, has drawn a sharp denial from Ford’s office and comes as Keel Digital Solutions, the company owned by Rob Godfrey, faces receivership, a provincial lawsuit and an ongoing Ontario Provincial Police investigation. ## Alleged request before election Godfrey alleges that on Jan. 22, 2025, Patrick Sackville, then Ford’s chief of staff, told Rob Godfrey that he would approve Keel Digital Solutions’ proposed three-year agreement, but wanted Postmedia to publish a letter to voters before the election. According to Paul Godfrey’s account, Ford wanted to explain his rationale for calling an early election in Ontario Postmedia newspapers. Godfrey said he understood the request as pressure tied to the proposed agreement. “I have spent an entire career either in or around politics,” he said in the sworn statement. “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.” He said the message was understood to mean that, without publication of the letter, Sackville would not be motivated to advance the three-year proposal. ## Ford op-ed ran January 28 Postmedia has not disputed that Ford’s office requested an opportunity for the premier to publish an opinion piece explaining an early election call. Ford’s National Post opinion byline was published Jan. 28, 2025, one day before the election campaign began. Postmedia said it had “no knowledge of the background events described by Mr. Godfrey.” The company said requests from political offices to publish opinion articles are not unusual and that its editorial pages do not require commercial consideration from political figures. “No commercial consideration would ever be required for the Premier, or any political figure, to share their opinion in our editorial pages,” Postmedia said. Ford’s office rejected Godfrey’s broader allegation, calling it “categorically untrue and completely disconnected from reality.” ## A disputed post-election call Paul Godfrey also said that after the Feb. 27 election, Ford spoke with him by telephone and credited Postmedia with helping at the start of the campaign. “The Premier thanked me and said it couldn’t have been done without Postmedia’s help at the outset of the election,” Godfrey said in his statement. Godfrey described the conversation as unsettling, saying it felt as though Ford was suggesting they were friends after what Godfrey characterized as the use of a contract involving his son’s company to obtain the opinion piece. The premier’s office has maintained its denial of the allegations. ## Keel faces legal and police scrutiny The political allegations have surfaced as Keel Digital Solutions confronts serious financial and legal pressure. Keel is in receivership following an Ontario Superior Court order on Oct. 5 that appointed BDO Canada Limited as receiver. Ontario sued Keel Digital Solutions and related executives for $25.9 million in January, alleging the company defrauded the province by misrepresenting mental-health counselling sessions and causing overpayments. Keel has denied wrongdoing and filed counterclaims seeking more than $100 million. The Ontario Provincial Police is also investigating Keel’s handling of the government contract. That investigation remains ongoing. None of those disputes determines the truth of Godfrey’s allegation about the Ford government and Postmedia. But together, they place a politically charged claim about power, public money and media access at the centre of an already contentious fight involving the province and Keel. **Reader-funded. No ads. No paywall.** The Canada Report is independent, reader-funded Canadian news — no advertisers, nothing behind a paywall, kept free for everyone. If you value it, you can help keep it that way. [Support The Canada Report →](https://www.thecanadareport.ca/support/) --- [*Source 1*](https://globalnews.ca/news/12090870/ford-government-used-leverage-over-taxpayer-funded-company-to-extract-political-benefit-legal-letter/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 2*](https://thedeepdive.ca/ex-postmedia-ceo-alleges-doug-ford-office-used-contract-as-leverage/?ref=thecanadareport.ca) *|* [*Source 3*](https://www.torontotoday.ca/local/politics-government/paul-godfrey-claims-doug-fords-office-used-leverage-over-sons-company-to-get-postmedia-to-publish-pre-election-letter-12865743?ref=thecanadareport.ca) ## Sign up for The Canada Report Your modern digest of Canadian news. Friendly, clear, and in your inbox. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.