Ford government denies editing Ford Fest photo, says it corrected 'orange hue'

Analysis by CBC’s Fact Check team finds Ford Fest photo posted by 2 PC MPPs was edited

A photograph shared online by two PC MPPs showcasing Ford Fest — an annual community event held by the party — appears to have been edited to make protesters look like supporters, an analysis by CBC's Fact Check team has found.

Photos of the festival, which took place last Friday at Thomson Memorial Park in Scarborough, were shared by Ontario Attorney General Doug Downey and MPP for Scarborough Centre David Smith over the weekend on the social media platform X.

One of the photos shows an aerial view of a crowd by the festival stage in what appear to be overwhelmingly blue shirts in support of the PC party.

CBC reporters on scene, however, saw dozens of Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) members gathered in the same area wearing purple T-shirts that said “Worth Fighting For,” moments before Ford was set to make a speech.

CBC reporters at the festival saw OPSEU members turn their backs, booing and chanting when Ford and members of his cabinet and caucus arrived on stage. Ford delivered an approximately 10-minute speech off a teleprompter, but it was hard to hear over the chants.

'Standard and routine practice': Ford's spokesperson

CBC’s visual investigations team compared the aerial photo shared online to footage taken by CBC reporters on scene as well as an Instagram page that documented the OPSEU protests. Their analysis identified, through a close-up on the people in the crowd, that many of the blue shirts in the photo were actually OPSEU shirts bearing the “Worth Fighting For” lettering.

The visual investigations team also analyzed individuals in the photo and compared it to CBC footage, which showed those same individuals wearing purple — not blue — shirts. CBC could not confirm the original source of the photo posted by the two MPPs.

Critics say Ford Fest photo edited to show crowd of PC backers

Downey was asked about the photo at an unrelated news conference Monday.

“I sign off on all posts, quite frankly [I] looked at my phone and I didn’t see anything, [so] it went up,” he said.

“I just don’t think it’s of any consequence.”

Downey did not confirm who took the photo.

In an emailed statement, Hannah Jensen, spokesperson for the premier’s office, said that aside from a default colour corrector, the aerial photo shared online was not altered.

“Photos from Ford Fest, including the aerial shot posted by two MPPs, had default saturation applied to correct an orange hue. This type of colour correction is standard and routine practice,” she said.

NDP Opposition Leader Marit Stiles slammed the Ford government over the photo a few days after it circulated online.

“Imagine getting booed at your own party, then editing the photos so the protesters look like fans,” she said in a post on X Monday.

“This is a tired government, and it's time to get them out of the way.”

This year's Ford Fest was held near the Scarborough Southwest riding, which is slated for a provincial byelection after MPP Dolly Begum won a federal byelection in the riding in April.

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Alina Snisarenko is a Toronto-based journalist. She currently works as a digital writer for CBC Toronto and has previously worked as an associate producer with CBC Radio's Metro Morning. You can reach her with story ideas or tips at alina.snisarenko@cbc.ca.

With files from Shawn Jeffords, Lorenda Reddekopp, Avneet Dhillon and CBC's visual investgations unit