Doug Ford acknowledges he knew finance minister was away before news broke of Caribbean family vacation

Doug Ford acknowledges he knew finance minister was away before news broke of Caribbean family vacation



a person sitting in front of a fireplace: On Dec. 24, Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips tweeted a video in which he's seen sitting by a fireplace thanking people for what they are doing to protect the most vulnerable. At the time, Phillips was vacationing in the Caribbean.


© Rod phillips/Twitter
On Dec. 24, Ontario Finance Minister Rod Phillips tweeted a video clip in which he’s noticed sitting down by a hearth thanking persons for what they are accomplishing to secure the most vulnerable. At the time, Phillips was vacationing in the Caribbean.

Ontario Leading Doug Ford is acknowledging he understood his finance minister, Rod Phillips, was outdoors Canada before the information of Phillips’s Caribbean family vacation started earning headlines Tuesday. 

Phillips, Ford said, in no way advised him he was leaving.

“I did connect with him soon immediately after he arrived and I requested him and he mentioned he was away,” Ford explained to reporters Wednesday.

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“My error, and I acquire complete accountability. At that time, I really should have claimed get your bottom again into Ontario and I didn’t do that.” 

The premier now states a “really tricky conversation” is in retailer when Phillips returns from his journey taken while Ontarians were being urged to hunker down amid increasing instances of COVID-19.

Phillips has been on holiday in Saint Barthélemy, a Caribbean island acknowledged commonly as St. Barts. He is on his way again to Canada and is scheduled to arrive in the region on Thursday, Ford claimed.

Phillips apologized Tuesday evening for leaving the place on Dec. 13 for a particular journey even as health officials pleaded with Ontarians to only enterprise exterior of their households for important needs.

Ford spoke publicly on the concern for the very first time at Trillium Overall health in Mississauga, where employees are preparing to distribute Moderna COVID-19 vaccines to Peel Community Health and fitness.

“There can’t be policies for elected folks and non-elected people,” Ford told reporters.

“I can tell you I am very upset. I’m very discouraged with the problem. I stand out in this article every single single working day and convey to persons to stay at household,” he reported.

“It is really unacceptable and we’re heading to have a extremely difficult conversation when he receives again.”

Phillips travelled to Switzerland in August

News of Phillips’s holiday journey to the Caribbean — regardless of the COVID-19 pandemic and his possess government’s advice to steer clear of non-important travel — has left many questioning how it came about in the initially spot and sparked calls for his resignation.

Nowadays Phillips’s office also instructed CBC Information that the minister experienced taken a excursion to Switzerland in August.

Phillips’s office environment posted a collection of tweets in the days right after the minister experienced by now departed for the Caribbean that could arguably give the perception that he was at property by means of the holidays.

A Dec. 15 tweet, for instance, contains a picture of Phillips with colleagues and overall health pros at a funding announcement for expanded psychological overall health expert services in Durham Region. A spokesperson for his business informed CBC Information that the picture was taken earlier and was simply just employed to coincide with the announcement on that day.

On Dec. 24, his account posted, “As we all make sacrifices this #Christmas, bear in mind that some of our fellow citizens will never even be dwelling for Christmas supper more than Zoom.”

Then in a Christmas Eve video clip, a hearth Phillips — flanked by a gingerbread residence and a tiny Xmas tree — thanks the general public for all they are doing to defend the most vulnerable.

“I’m concerned about the videos as nicely on social media,” Ford reported Wednesday.

“We are going to address it, and I assure the folks of Ontario we’re likely to have a challenging discussion when he gets again.”