A spokesperson for Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he and his family can’t get into their home due to anti-vaccination protesters demonstrating outside.
“The Premier and his family haven’t been able to get into their home for most of the weekend or today because anti-vaxxers have been protesting outside their house,” Ford spokesperson Ivana Yelich said in a tweet Monday evening.
On Sunday, Toronto Police confirmed that demonstrators had gathered outside of the premier’s Etobicoke home to protest what appears to be Ontario’s vaccination strategy against COVID-19.
Protesters have been known to frequent the premier’s home throughout the course of the pandemic to decry public health measures used to combat the spread of the virus.
On Friday, in response to rising case numbers, the government announced new capacity limits for restaurants and other settings as well as a smaller limit on social gatherings.
LIBERALS QUESTION WHERE FORD IS
The Yelich tweet tags the Ontario Liberal Party’s official Twitter account in response to another post made by an account called “Ont. Liberal Party War Room” just after 6 p.m.
In that tweet, a video of an unidentified woman in a vehicle can be seen before the camera swings to reveal a man who appears to be Premier Ford standing in the falling snow with a mask on.
Another man, who is unseen in the video, can be heard asking the premier, “headed to the cottage... before the next lockdown?”
Premier Ford responds by confirming that he is in fact heading to his cottage, before the woman says “that’s fun.”
It’s unclear when or where the video was taken.
In an email to CTV News Toronto, Yelich said that the “petty tactics” used by the protesters “have no impact on this government’s resolve to do the right thing in order to protect the people of Ontario.”
“The only thing these people are doing is targeting and harassing innocent neighbours and family members who have nothing to do with the government’s decision-making,” Yelich said.
Meanwhile, Will Wuehr, senior communications advisor to Ontario Liberal Leader, told CTV News Toronto that Ontarians have “had it” with what he described as Conservative hoarding of vaccines, tests and federal COVID-19 support funds.
“After the June election when Ontarians send him packing, Doug Ford will have a lot more time to spend at his cottage,” Wuehr said.
