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OTTAWA â Former Ontario finance minister Rod Phillips resigned from his cabinet posting on Thursday, offering one final example in 2020 of politicians asking the public âto do as I say, not as I doâ during the global pandemic.
Phillips, once seen as a rising star in politics, stepped down after he was found to be vacationing on the Caribbean island of St. Barts at a time when the province was advising against international travel.
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Alberta Premier Jason Kenney says he won’t be issuing sanctions to senior government officials for travelling outside of the country.
Kenney said during a Friday news conference that he became aware that Municipal Affairs Minister Tracy Allard had left the country on Tuesday and immediately asked her to return.
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Try refreshing your browser. It was a significant error in judgment : Kenney not sanctioning Alberta politicians, staff who travelled abroad Back to video
Kenney said she went on the trip before Christmas on Dec. 19 and returned on Thursday. The premier also confirmed that his chief of staff, Jamie Huckabay, had travelled to the United Kingdom and returned to Canada via the United States.
Here are the latest local, regional and national headlines on the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) for Friday, January 1, 2021:
There have been 182,159 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across Ontario, an increase of 3,328 (or 1.9 per cent) from the previous day. There are 156,012 people recovered from the virus while 4,530 people have died. The number of Ontario people tested is 7,922,058 of which 72,283 have pending results.
Canada’s coronavirus case total, usually updated at 7 p.m., was not updated as of 10:20 p.m. Dec. 31. The following is a repeat of the most recent numbers: Canada’s coronavirus case total is 572,982. The country has 15,472 deaths from the virus – one in the Yukon, one in Nunavut, 893 in British Columbia, 1,046 in Alberta, 154 in Saskatchewan, 661 in Manitoba, 4,474 in Ontario, 8,165 in Quebec, eight in New Brunswick, four in Newfoundland & Labrador and 65 in Nova Scotia.
By Mitchell Blair
The only place Highways Minister Joe Hargrave will be leaving soon is California.
The premier’s office says despite the claims of the NDP to have Hargrave removed from his cabinet position, that will not happen.
The NDP says a decision by Hargrave to leave the province and go to Palm Springs on what he says was essential business is a slap in the face to Saskatchewan people to had to make real sacrifices at Christmas this year because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Hargrave apologized for his actions shortly after the call from the NDP in which deputy leader Nicole Sarauer said was nothing short of disgusting because he thought such a trip which was more personal in nature according to her than business–was acceptable.