The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is reviewing the actions of one of its officers after a video circulating on social media appeared to show the officer relaying security information about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a protester and expressing support for the demonstrators.
The incident occurred April 25 at the Honda plant in Alliston, Ont., where the prime minister announced a $15 billion deal with the Japanese auto giant to create a plant for electric vehicle production.
The video was published on X by an anonymous “anti-fascist” account and claims the officer was talking to a protester, who was part of a small demonstration against Mr. Trudeau at the Honda plant.
In the clip, the officer seemed to relay which entrance the prime minister used to access the plant and said, “Do me a favour. I’m on board with you guys, but just no profanity.”
“There’s 6,000 of us employed in the OPP. I’m pretty sure that not 6,000 voted for Trudeau,” the officer added.
The officer also agreed with the protester’s comments about Ottawa’s bail policies. The protester can be heard calling the policies “catch and release,” and the officer responded by saying, “It’s ridiculous. It is absolutely ridiculous.”
The OPP confirmed the incident is under review, saying the video “raised concerns about professionalism and depicts opinions that are not in line with the OPP’s values.”
“The OPP wants to assure the public that this matter is being taken seriously,” said its April 26 statement released on X.
Mr. Trudeau was asked about the incident by a reporter during his April 26 visit to Bromont, Que.
“As you will know, I won’t comment on operational or security matters. But I am sure that the appropriate folks are looking into whatever reports these are,” he said.
The prime minister went on to affirm the right to protest in Canada, saying that Canadians had the right to disagree with, or even insult, a prime minister.
“At the same time, however, politicians need to be very, very careful that they don’t feed into divisions amongst Canadians polarizations or conspiracy theories,” Mr. Trudeau added and went on to criticize Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre for his failure to denounce American broadcaster Alex Jones, who Mr. Trudeau referred to as a “garbage conspiracy theorist.”
The comments about Mr. Poilievre came just days after Mr. Trudeau made similar statements, calling on the Tory leader to denounce Mr. Jones.
Sebastian Skamski, a spokesman for Mr. Poilievre, told The Canadian Press the Tories neither follow nor listen to Mr. Jones.
