Conservative who reportedly urinated into coffee cup ‘deeply regrets’ actions

TORONTO – A Toronto Conservative candidate is expressing regret after a media report that he was once caught on video urinating in a coffee cup while working as an appliance repairman.

The CBC reported Sunday night that its show Marketplace used hidden cameras in 2012 to record Jerry Bance doing the act and pouring the contents down the sink – he was reportedly on a service call.

The CBC says Bance, who is running in the east Toronto riding of Scarborough Rouge Park, runs an appliance repair company.

The broadcaster aired the Marketplace video Sunday night – the show had set up the hidden cameras in 2012 as part of a story into home repair companies.

The CBC says after Bance pours the urine down the sink, he rinses out the cup, all while the homeowner was in the next room.

A statement from Bance released by the Conservative campaign says he “deeply regrets” his actions on that day.

“I take great pride in my work and the footage from that day does not reflect who I am as a professional or a person,” Bance said in the emailed statement.

Tom Mulcair: Jerry Bance urinating in a cup was ‘one mugshot Canadians were not expecting’

Response to the story on social media sites was nearly instantaneous. The hashtag “peegate” was soon trending on Twitter, as the twittersphere buzzed with disparaging jokes, comments and bad puns targeting Bance, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party.

WATCH: Prime Minister Harper offers short, terse comment regarding loss of two Conservative candidates in separate scandals

The original Marketplace show only named Bance as “Jerry” – it did not mention that he had been a Conservative candidate in two previous elections in 2006 and 2008.

Stephen Harper is set to campaign in east Toronto on Monday. A media advisory from the Conservative campaign names two candidates who will join him, but does not mention Bance.