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.
by Steve Watson
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.
https://twitter.com/RodPhillips01/status/1342134976796622849?s=20
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.”
Also read: List Of Hypocrite Politicians Who Got Caught Breaking Their Own Draconian COVID-19 Rules
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
— @kielcoyle.bsky.social (@Kiel_Coyle) December 29, 2020
https://twitter.com/scowen13/status/1344319950752800769?s=20
https://twitter.com/doulmin/status/1344043041888329728?s=20
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.
