Toronto – POLITICS – Rod Phillips has resigned from the Ontario cabinet. Premier Ford has accepted his resignation.
Phillips became the subject of intense criticism following disclosure that he had traveled to the Caribbean for a holiday following the end of the legislative session.
Premier Ford said, “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.”
Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath released the following statement in response to Rod Phillips’ resignation as Finance Minister, a full two weeks after Doug Ford became aware of Phillips’ vacation:
“Doug Ford knew about Rod Phillips’ trip to St. Barts two weeks ago. 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.”
On Twitter, reporters and the public started piecing together this story as rumours about the finance minister being out of the country.
While it is not illegal to travel, the decision, which Phillips said on his return to Canada earlier today was a “bad decision”, ran counter to the continual requests from the Ontario government to not travel.
