(Ottawa) The airline WestJet has come under fire after a video of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre making an announcement on board a plane went viral on social media.
Published at 9:10 p.m.
Michel Saba The Canadian Press
“Hello everyone, this is Pierre Poilievre, happy to join you on a wonderful WestJet flight back to my hometown of Calgary,” Mr. Poilievre says to applause in the roughly one-minute video he posted Monday.
Mr. Poilievre repeats his current lines. “Who is ready for common sense? » he says to the passengers standing at the front, holding in one hand the receiver of the loudspeaker system normally used by flight attendants.
The Conservative leader continues with a message “from your captain” aimed at informing of “some turbulence, but this will only last for about two years when you have a completely new crew and pilot for the aircraft” .
It was enough to trigger an avalanche of accusations on social networks. WestJet is being accused of partisanship, facing calls for a boycott and being asked to show the door to employees who let Mr. Poilievre speak out.
“Can you imagine sitting on a plane and then being forced to listen to a campaign speech by Poilievre,” asks a user on X (formerly Twitter).
“Extraordinary opportunities”
In a response in English to questions asked in French, WestJet spokeswoman Madison Kruger said the company added two flights between Western Canada and Quebec City to meet expected demand for the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) convention held there last days.
“The flight in question (in the video) was added to our flight schedule and announced as a CCP Convention flight,” she said in the email to The Canadian Press.
Use of the public address system on WestJet aircraft by anyone other than flight attendants is “rare” and reserved for “exceptional occasions.” […] like this one “.
Furthermore, this was “approved in advance by WestJet operations management and pending the final decision of the operations team.”
The airline says it does not support any political party or organization.
But social media users are still sharing a post from the airline’s big boss, Alexis von Hoensbroech, who posed next to former Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper earlier this month.
“Very informative and inspiring discussions,” he wrote. A lifelong Calgarian, he has known WestJet since its beginnings and has been a great supporter of our company and our employees. »
Others, however, had a message “to all the liberals who have lost their minds.” They re-shared the video of former Liberal transport minister Omar Alghabra, who also made an announcement to passengers on a VIA Rail train in recent months.
Mr. Alghabra then told passengers that he was going to Montreal to announce the launch of a tender to build a line between Quebec and Toronto as part of the high-frequency train project.