Canadian politician faked Twitter posts to conceal Caribbean holiday

Ontario premier Doug Ford is under pressure after admitting that he has known for weeks that his finance minister – who faked social media posts to conceal his location – had ignored a coronavirus lockdown to go on holiday in the Caribbean.

Posts on Rod Phillips’s social media accounts suggested that he remained home over Christmas, but it emerged on Tuesday that the minister flew to the island of St Barts in mid-December – despite his own government’s advice to avoid non-essential travel.

On Wednesday afternoon, Ford admitted he had learned about Phillip’s tropical vacation two weeks ago and said he regretted not demanding his minister return immediately.

“He never told anyone he was leaving. He never told me he was leaving,” said Ford, who said he planned to have a “tough conversation” with Phillips when he arrives home tomorrow.

Ford had previously called Phillips’s trip “completely unacceptable”.

Staff from Phillips’s office said on Tuesday that the minister’s trip to St Barts, a popular destination for wealthy travellers, was planned. But with coronavirus cases spiralling in Canada’s most populous province, calls were growing for the finance minister to resign or be fired.

The revelation of Phillips’s Caribbean vacation came as Ontario reported two days in a row of record coronavirus cases. On Wednesday, the province announced 2,923 new infections.

In a statement, Phillips said that he “deeply regrets” the trip and adding that if he had known Ontario would be in lockdown, he would not have left the country.

“It was a mistake and I apologise. I left on a personally paid-for trip to St Barts on 13 December following the end of the legislative session.”

Criticism of Phillips has focused on his social media accounts, which appeared to suggest he had remained in his constituency over the holidays.

In a video posted on Christmas Eve, seated beside a fire, glass of eggnog and decorated gingerbread house, Phillips acknowledges the challenges of the holidays and thanks residents for doing what they can to protect “the most vulnerable” in the province.

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

Other tweets during his vacation out of the country include pictures of him meeting local business owners and attending funding announcements.

On Wednesday evening, the Ontario Liberal party shared a video clip of a conference the minister had participated in, three days after leaving the country. In the clips, Phillips is seen using a virtual backdrop of the province’s legislative building. “[A]re those waves we hear behind your Queen’s Park Zoom background?” the party tweeted.

Provincial New Democratic party leader, Andrea Horwath, called for Phillips to be ejected from cabinet.

“It’s shameful, it’s a disgrace and shame on Doug Ford for knowing that this was the case and simply turning a blind eye,” she told CP24. “There has to be some accountability for these kinds of things … Ontarians deserve better than that, so Ford has to fire him.”

Under Canadian law, Phillips will be required to quarantine for 14 days upon his return to Ontario. More than 40,000 people have returned to Canada from abroad during the pandemic and only 130 tickets have been issued for breaking quarantine.