Premier Ford went to his Muskoka cottage on Easter Sunday, his office confirms

By news staff

After telling people in April not to visit cottage country as the number of coronavirus cases continued to rise across the province, the premier’s office confirmed that Doug Ford went to his family cottage on Easter Sunday.

A statement from the premier’s office on Friday said Ford drove alone to his family property to check on the plumbing and was there for less than an hour.

The premier’s property has been under construction for the past two years.

The statement said the premier drove to his cottage, didn’t stop anywhere and didn’t interact with anyone.

Ford, when asked about the visit during a press conference Friday, said any criticism towards him is “fair.”


Cottage owners were told to stay home over the Easter long weekend to avoid the spread of COVID-19 to areas of the province that didn’t have the medical facilities to accommodate any large-spread outbreak.

Ford originally said that cottagers pay taxes and have the right to visit their summer properties, and has since given the green light for owners to check on their seasonal properties over the Victoria Day long weekend.

This week Ford said that after speaking with cottage country mayors, he told visitors to stay away.

Ford said utility checks by cottage owners would be okay but asked people not to host parties.

“Respect the rules no matter what jurisdiction you’re going into, respect the rules. Let’s work together,” he said during a press conference earlier this week when asked about the Victoria Day long weekend.

“There’s going to be many long weekends that we can go up there and have a good time.”

This isn’t the first time a Canadian politician has been under fire for going to a cottage.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was heavily criticized after he travelled to his cottage in Quebec over the Easter weekend. This was after Trudeau had not only asked Canadians to say home, but to avoid travelling to other provinces, including Quebec which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the country.

Ontario reported 399 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, pushing the total to over 19,000.

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