Passengers returning to Calgary from the Conservative Party national meeting in Quebec City on a WestJet flight Sunday evening got a surprise speech from party leader Pierre Poilievre.
Videos of it were posted on social media feeds Monday, resulting in both support for the opposition party leader and questions about whether it was appropriate for a party leader to speak on a public flight, as the flight was not a charter exclusively for Conservative Party supporters.
A WestJet spokesperson, replying to an email from CTV News, said that while it was a public flight, it was actually added in order to accommodate delegates flying to the Conservative Party convention in Quebec City.
"The flight was added to our schedule and advertised as a flight serving the CPC convention. As it was a commercial flight however, guests who booked the flight were not required to indicate if they were attending the convention and therefore we are unable to determine if there were guests onboard who were not attending.
I don’t care too much for it, if he keeps it short, PP can campaign wherever he likes. If I hear an announcement on a train, subway, streetcar or bus, or walk by a square, the most I’d do is roll my eyes and otherwise ignore it.
Politicians get so much flak for taking private charter flights everywhere, yet there always seems to be an article whenever a party leader flies commercial. I get using the PA system to advertise the campaign is unusual but if it’s short and they have WestJet’s permission it doesn’t bother me.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !canada@lemmy.ca
I don’t care too much for it, if he keeps it short, PP can campaign wherever he likes. If I hear an announcement on a train, subway, streetcar or bus, or walk by a square, the most I’d do is roll my eyes and otherwise ignore it.
Politicians get so much flak for taking private charter flights everywhere, yet there always seems to be an article whenever a party leader flies commercial. I get using the PA system to advertise the campaign is unusual but if it’s short and they have WestJet’s permission it doesn’t bother me.