Trudeau on Montreal–Cancún party flight: “It’s a slap in the face” to Canadians

In a press conference this afternoon, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was asked to comment on the videos that surfaced of a party on a flight from Montreal to Cancún on Dec. 30, showing passengers failing to observe a number of COVID-19 safety measures. Trudeau echoed what federal transport and health ministers communicated last night, that Transport Canada will be investigating the matter, and called the actions of the group aboard the chartered Sunwing Airlines flight “a slap in the face” to Canadians who are following health directives to keep each other safe during the Omicron wave.

“Like all Canadians who’ve seen those videos, I’m extremely frustrated. We know how hard people have worked to keep themselves safe, to limit family gatherings at Christmas time, to wear masks, to get vaccinated, to do all the right things, and it’s a slap in the face to see people putting themselves, putting their fellow citizens, putting airline workers at risk by being completely irresponsible.

“I can assure you that this is a situation that Transport Canada takes extremely seriously and we are definitely following up on it.”

—Justin Trudeau

Sunwing Airlines responded to the incident by cancelling the return flight that the group of Quebec “influencers” seen in the video had scheduled to depart from Cancún today.

«Je peux vous assurer que Transports Canada prend très au sérieux la situation avec ce vol nolisé» affirme le PM Trudeau, confirmant qu'une enquête est en cours. «C'est inacceptable» lance t-il en dépeignant les passagers du vol comme des «sans dessin» et des ostrogoths.#polcan pic.twitter.com/hITGb6K19R

— CPAC (@CPAC_TV) January 5, 2022

This article was originally published at 12:38 p.m. and updated at 1:46 p.m.

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