A Canadian government official was forced to resign after posting a video pretending to be at home about shutting down the coronavirus – when he was actually on vacation in St. Barts.
Rod Phillips, Ontario’s Treasury Secretary, shared a Christmas Eve clip of himself in a sweater, sipped attorney in front of a fireplace, and thanked Canadians for avoiding non-essential travel while on vacation.
“I want to thank you all for what we do to protect our most vulnerable,” Phillips said in the video.
Other posts on his Twitter account also suggested he was at home in snowy Ontario, including a December 17 photo of him pouring Canadian maple syrup over pancakes and a photo of visiting local businesses on Christmas Eve.
Turns out, Phillips had been on the Caribbean island of St. Barts – a favorite playground of the rich and famous – since December 13, Newstalk 1010 first reported.
Opposition parties and health officials called for Phillips to be fired from the cabinet.
He was ordered to return to Ontario, and Prime Minister Doug Ford promised to have a “very difficult conversation” with Phillips when he returned on Thursday.
Later Thursday, Ford said he had accepted Phillips’s resignation
In a statement, Phillips said he “deeply” regretted the beach vacation.
“It was a mistake and I apologize,” he said, admitting, “I left on a personally paid trip to St. Barts on December 13 after the end of the term.”
At Pearson Airport Thursday, he told reporters he had made a “stupid, stupid mistake” by making the trip, the CBC reported.
“I have no apologies for traveling when we should not have traveled.”
With pole wires