A Canadian minister resigns after going on holiday to the Caribbean amid the pandemic

Toronto – The finance minister of Canada’s most populous province resigned on Thursday after going on holiday in the Caribbean during the pandemic and apparently trying to hide the fact by posting a video on Twitter in which he is seen with a sweater next to a fireplace.

Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford has said he has accepted Rod Phillips’ resignation as minister hours after he returned home after a more than two-week trip to St. John’s Island. Barts despite government guidelines urging people not to travel unless absolutely necessary.

“Traveling at Christmas time was a wrong decision, and again I offer my total apologies“Phillips said in a statement confirming his resignation.

In a video posted on Christmas Eve, a finance minister is seen wearing a sweater while drinking egg liqueur next to a fireplace and Christmas decorations.

“I want to thank each and every one of you for what we are doing to protect our most vulnerable,” Phillips says in the video to Ontario residents confined to the coronavirus.

But he had actually been enjoying a vacation since Dec. 13 in St. Louis. Barts, a popular French island among the rich and famous, though his Twitter account gave the impression that he was in Ontario.

Opposition parties and health officials had called for Phillips to be fired from the cabinet. A party has released a video of a call via Zoom in which he is seen participating – also with a sweater – and an image of the legislature as a background, but they can hear sounds like waves.

On his arrival Thursday at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, he told reporters he had made “a silly, silly mistake.”

“I hope people understand that I’m the most disappointed,” said Phillips, who now has to keep a mandatory 14-day quarantine for those arriving from abroad.

Ontario set a new daily record of 3,238 cases on Thursday.