Which Canadian Politicians Aren’t on Vacation?

After Ontario’s Minister of Finance Rod Phillips was caught taking a beach vacation in St. Barts it seems like every government official is being found to be living life to the fullest while dissuading their own constituents from taking part in similar activities.

In Ontario the chair for the Education Quality and Accountability Office, Dr. Cameron Montgomery went home to Quebec over Christmas. Director of Media Relations for Premier Doug Ford, Ivana Yelich, also went back home to Saskatchewan at the same time.

In Alberta, Chief of Staff for Premier Jason Kenney, Jamie Huckabay, is allegedly in the United Kingdom at the moment, and Government of Alberta Press Secretaries, Michael Forain, and Eliza Snider are both in Hawaii.

In the case of Phillips, his vacation schedule was recently updated with it being made known that he had also left the country in August for a “personal trip to Switzerland,” according to his office.

This shortlist of politicians and high ranking public servants seems to just be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to those taking ill-advised vacations in the middle of mass lockdowns all across Canada.

It isn’t inherently wrong to take a vacation at this time, but it is deeply disrespectful while Canadians aren’t even able to drive across the US border for a personal trip, and not be able to pay for pricey beach vacations or even meet with their families for Christmas, Canada’s political elite are moving around unimpeded by the rules and recommendations put out by the government.

Phillips seems to have even known what he was doing looked bad as he was posting on social media as if he was in Canada dealing with the harsh winter and lockdown measures, while he was really sipping on a daiquiri somewhere few Canadians could afford to be right now.

Premier Ford did come out and condemn the actions of Phillips, saying that it was wrong to have government officials acting as if they were not held to the same standards as regular Ontarians, but this hasn’t stopped the media from demanding to know where every MLA, MP, and high ranking official was over the past few months.

It isn’t unreasonable seeing as digging only a bit has already uncovered a handful of hypocrites.

The whole situation simply highlights the disconnect that is present between the general public and the political class.

Canadians should be able to expect that government officials are attempting to live within the rules they create, enforce, or promote. No wonder our elected officials are all passing strict lockdown measures and believing the public should be able to handle it, since many of them don’t know what it’s actually like to be stuck at home almost 24/7 for months at a time.

There is a certain level of childishness that seems to go along with a large number of government officials these days. I bet Phillips only feels bad that he got caught and not guilty for having committed an act of first-degree hypocrisy while many of his constituents go unemployed or even bankrupt while he is living care-free.

Phillips and the others now should either resign or say that their actions demonstrate, which is that the current lockdown measures they their governments have passed are unreasonable and need to be loosened.