Watch Above: Video shows TTC security personnel asking Hudak’s media team and news outlets if they have permission to film on the subway Sunday morning.
TORONTO – Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak was asked to leave a TTC subway car Sunday morning for recording without proper authorization.
The incident lit up Twitter after many passengers were delayed.
Watch video: Political gaffes can sometimes define a campaign. Jackson Proskow reports.
TTC spokesperson Milly Bernal tells Global News that during elections, TTC’s policy is that politicians cannot canvas past the paid areas in TTC stations.
Permission is also needed to shoot in TTC stations, which was never requested by Hudak’s people, Bernal says.
According to Bernal, TTC Transit Officers asked media to stop filming, then asked the media and Hudak’s people to leave the train so they could explain the canvassing policy. After that, Hudak’s people willingly left the train and station.
Hudak said he felt “terrible” about the incident and hoped the delay didn’t disrupt any Mother’s Day celebrations. A party spokesman apologized, saying they didn’t think of getting clearance in advance.
As of Sunday night, the tweet blaming CUPE for stopping the photo op remained on the party’s twitter feed.
This is the second photo faux pas for Hudak in a week.
Last Monday he made an announcement about his jobs plan at a music studio in Mississauga standing beside Gil Moore, the Metalworks Institute’s CEO.
Hudak said his “million jobs plan” was in part influenced by “talking to people like Gil Moore.”
Hudak voted against the $45 million Ontario Music Fund that was contained within the 2013 budget. He’s slammed this and similar government handouts as “corporate welfare.”
-With files from James Armstrong
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