The backlash over a holiday vacation taken while Ontario is in lockdown has cost a provincial Cabinet minister his post.
Premier Doug Ford announced Thursday afternoon that Finance Minister Rod Phillips has resigned his position, due to the fallout over a trip Phillips took over Christmas to St. Barts, a French territory in the Caribbean.
Ford had called Phillips back to Toronto and was due to meet with him earlier Thursday. The Globe and Mail reports that Phillips offered his resignation during that meeting.
"At a time when the people of Ontario have sacrificed so much, today’s resignation is a demonstration that our government takes seriously our obligation to hold ourselves to a higher standard," said Ford as quoted in the Globe and Mail.
Phillips will remain as the PC MPP for Ajax.
Treasury Board President Peter Bethlenfalvy will assume Phillips' duties as Finance Minister, and take charge of delivering the 2021 budget to the legislature.
Phillips generated plenty of criticism for taking the holiday while travel restrictions had been in place for months. Ontarians had been directed not to travel internationally except for emergencies, and to quarantine for 14 days upon their return to Canada.
The newspaper reports that Phillips returned to Toronto early Thursday morning and apologized to reporters waiting at Pearson Airport.
"I know that I disappointed a lot of people and I hope people appreciate I disappointed no one more than myself," said Phillips.
Phillips said that the trip to the luxury resort island had been scheduled weeks before Ontario went into lockdown, and that he and his wife would have cancelled the excursion had they known a lockdown was coming. His office had told the Globe and Mail that the couple traveled to Switzerland during the summer without incident and quarantined for two weeks when they returned.
Ford had admitted that he knew Phillips was away for two weeks, when he called the minister to ask where he was. He had originally stated that it was not his job to track the personal lives of his staff or ministers, but ultimately took responsibility for not ordering Phillips back sooner.
That explanation did not go over well with Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath, who on Thursday criticized Ford for not taking action sooner.
"Doug Ford knew about Rod Phillips’ trip to St. Barts two weeks ago," said Horwath in a short media release. "Not only did Ford not fire him then, he helped him keep the trip a secret. Phillips’ resignation from cabinet today is not because of Phillips’ vacation, it’s because they got caught."
