Canadian Minister Jetted to Caribbean While Lecturing People to ‘Sacrifice’ Holidays

Canadian Minister Jetted to Caribbean While Lecturing People to ‘Sacrifice’ Holidays
     Tried to cover up luxury St. Barts getaway

by Steve Watson, Summit News
December 31, 2020

 

Another government figure has been slammed for lecturing people to stay home to keep COVID cases down, while not even bothering to do so himself.

Ontario’s Finance Minister Rod Phillips has been slammed for asking people to ‘make sacrifices’ and forget about going on holiday, while himself jetting off to the Caribbean.

As we all make sacrifices this #Christmas, remember that some of our fellow citizens won’t even be home for Christmas dinner over Zoom.

Thousands of front line heroes will be at work, looking out for us.

Who is the special hero in your life you want to thank?

??‍⚕️?‍⚕️???‍????️

— Rod Phillips (@RodPhillips01) December 24, 2020

When it emerged that Phillips had left the country, breaking the ‘non-essential travel’ mandate, he was forced to issue an apology, claiming he “deeply” regretted traveling and “it was a mistake and I apologize.”

“I left on a personally paid trip to St. Barts on Dec. 13 following the end of the Legislative session,” Phillips noted claiming he was “making arrangements to return to Ontario immediately and will begin a 14-day quarantine as soon as I arrive.”

Social media users pointed out that Phillips appears to have scheduled a stream of Twitter posts to make it appear he was still in Ontario, but was wearing the same clothes in all of them because the photos were all taken on the same day before he left:

Rod Phillips and his staff put an enormous amount of effort into his deception. https://t.co/nitO2ScJvn https://t.co/XMW8QirXiK

— Ezra Levant ? (@ezralevant) December 30, 2020

Phillips also tried to cover up the fact he was in the Caribbean during a video conference call on December 16, using a fake background:

.@RodPhillips01 are those waves we hear behind your Queen’s Park Zoom background? This is disgraceful, and Ford knew about it for two weeks. #onpoli

Date: Dec. 16, 2020 pic.twitter.com/4CmDlUA09d

— Ontario Liberal Party | Parti Libéral de l’Ontario (@OntLiberal) December 30, 2020

Now angry residents, who are locked down between provinces, are calling for his head:

What else helps with keeping an outbreak under control?

Staying the fuck home & not leaving (non-essential travel) the country in the middle of a pandemic.

If you can’t follow simple public health guidelines, then can we trust you with the province’s finances?

FYI, WE DON’T

— Kiel Coyle (@EcoGeek13) December 29, 2020

If Rod Phillips doesn’t resign over his incredible lack of judgment, compounded by his attempts to mislead the public about his whereabouts, then leadership and accountability have no meaning in the Ford government.

— Peter Scowen (@scowen13) December 30, 2020

This law abiding citizen is now furious. My wife and do not invite anyone family for Christmas. We even ordered food in for Christmas dinner. We cancelled our trip south. We were told that was the right thing to do. I am starting to believe we have been mislead by the @fordnation

— David Toulmin (@doulmin) December 29, 2020

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has also been slammed over the revelations, with claims that he found out about Phillips being away but did not order him to return.

“I did call him shortly after he arrived and I asked him and he said he was away,” Ford admitted Wednesday.

“My mistake, and I take full responsibility. At that time, I should have said get your backside back into Ontario and I didn’t do that,” Ford added.

The government of Ontario recently stoked controversy by suggesting that people who do not take the coronavirus vaccine will face restrictions on where they can travel and spend time.

Phillips joins a long list of COVID hypocrites in government who spend their time lecturing everyone else to hunker down while they completely ignore all restrictions.