Canadian politicians share edited image of Ontario festival
- Published on June 25, 2026 at 17:03
- 3 min read
- By AFP Canada
Two elected representatives in Ontario celebrated an annual event fronted by the Canadian province's premier Doug Ford by posting photos of the crowd on X. But an aerial image they shared looks to have been edited such that the purple shirts worn by a large group of union protesters resembled the blue tops sported by supporters of Ford's Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.
Ontario's Attorney General Doug Downey and Member of Provincial Parliament David Smith both posted the picture, an aerial image of the crowd as elected officials addressed Ford Fest, following the June 19, 2026 event.
Nearly 4,000 workers have been on strike for weeks in Ontario, an action the Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU) said is the result of legislation, Bill 124, that "capped public sector worker salary increases at one per cent during a period of record inflation" (archived here and here).
The union said some 850 members attended Ford Fest to protest. Local media documented them turning their backs and shouting over Ford as he addressed the event, in the Scarborough district of Toronto (archived here and here).
The aerial image appears edited in a way that minimizes their presence, with the purple shirts worn by protesters showing up as blue, the color choice of Ford's supporters.
Toronto Star reporter Mahdis Habibinia first flagged the image as suspicious.
Habibinia's own photos, along with images from journalists reporting for Global News and Postmedia, showed a large group of protesters wearing matching purple shirts that say: "Worth Fighting For" (archived here, here and here).
The same wording on the shirts can be seen when zooming in on the aerial image, even as they appear blue.
Further analysis of the images from the CBC identified a bearded individual sporting a Toronto Blue Jays hat. In the aerial image posted to X, the person looks to be wearing a blue shirt. But in footage captured by CBC cameraman Grant Linton, the same person was wearing a purple OPSEU shirt, the network said.
Government denial
AFP did not receive a direct response to questions put to Ford's government, but it denied deliberately altering the image in a statement released to other media, including Global News.
"Photos from Ford Fest, including the aerial shot posted by two MPPs, had default saturation applied to correct an orange hue," the statement said. "This type of color correction is standard and routine practice. The images were not otherwise edited or altered in any way."
The government has not made the original photo file available for analysis. Images included on the premier's social media contained a different aerial shot of festival attendees in blue shirts, but it was taken when the elected representatives were not on the stage (archived here).
AFP also reached out to Downey and Smith for comment, but responses were not forthcoming.
At an unrelated news conference, Downey said he is responsible for posts on his X account and had reviewed the image on a phone prior to it being shared.
"I just don't think it's of any consequence," he told the CBC.
Find more of AFP's reporting on misinformation in Canada here.
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