Ontario’s finance minister resigned on Thursday after being outraged because he was on holiday in the Caribbean earlier this month, in defiance of his own government’s security guidelines for the pandemic.
The news of Rod Phillips’ holiday became known on Tuesday after Ontario’s Prime Minister Doug Ford announced that he had ordered his finance minister to return home.
Finance Minister Rod Phillips answers a question while she and Prime Minister Doug Ford and Health Minister Christine Elliott ask questions at the COVID-19 provinces’ daily press conference in Queens Park, Toronto.
(Toronto Star via Getty Images)
“At a time when every Ontarioian has been asked to make sacrifices, I am very disappointed with Minister Phillips and his decision to travel abroad,” Ford said.
Phillips, a member of Ontario’s ruling Progressive Conservative Party, said he was taking the province to the French island of St. Louis on Dec. 13. Barts leaves after the legislative session ends.
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Phillips’ official Twitter profile has been filled with tweets highlighting the severity of the pandemic. In a tweet on Christmas Eve, Phillips paid tribute to frontline workers who made sacrifices during the holiday season. Ontario began shutting down on December 26 to limit the spread of the virus.
Phillips returned home Thursday and apologized for the trip.
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“Today, after my conversation with Rod Phillips, I accepted his resignation as Ontario’s Minister of Finance,” Ontario’s Prime Minister Doug Ford said in a statement. “At a time when the people of Ontario have sacrificed so much, today’s resignation is proof that our government is taking seriously our obligation to maintain a higher standard.”