Ontario Tory legislator apologizes for not wearing mask during photo

A Progressive Conservative legislator is apologizing for not wearing a mask while posing for a group photo over the weekend.

Sam Oosterhoff, who is also the parliamentary assistant to the education minister, posted the picture on social media over the weekend but later deleted it.

Critics – including the NDP and the head of the Ontario Hospital Association – have called for Oosterhoff’s resignation as parliamentary assistant, saying he was not following his government’s pandemic guidance.

Oosterhoff says the event took place at a banquet hall where the province’s rules permit less than 50 people to attend.

He says the event included five tables that were distanced and limited to less than ten people at each.

But Oosterhoff says he should have worn a mask when taking the picture given the proximity of the people around him.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 26, 2020.

The Canadian Press