QUEBEC CITY -- Quebec Premier François Legault's political opposition accused him Wednesday of breaking public health rules by spending time with his adult sons, but the government fired back that they live with him.
The premier's CAQ party asked for an apology from the leader of the Parti Quebecois, Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, who made the comments -- an apology he promptly gave.
Legault's government is "very much ahead in terms of communications... in terms of looking good.. in terms of having the right message to tell everyone they're doing an awesome job," said Plamondon in his original comment, at a press conference in response to a question from CTV News.
He appeared to reference, as part of this trend of cheery communications, a recent tweet by Legault with a photo of himself trying snowboarding outside his home.
"Francois Legault doing snowboard[ing] in his backyard -- by the way, with his children in the backyard, which is a violation of public health rules," said St-Pierre Plamondon.
The deputy premier fired back later Wednesday by saying Legault's sons live with him, so there's been no breaking of health laws.
"The response of the [premier] is that his two sons indeed live with him, so I don't know where [St-Pierre Plamondon] got his information," said Deputy Premier Genevieve Guibault.
She turned the topic to other public health rules.
"But I remember, last week, [St-Pierre Plamondon] saying that we should open gyms in one region but not another. And [on] what was it based, he didn't really know, so I think he should be more...rigorous," she said.
Legault has two sons, Xavier and Victor, both in their twenties. According to past reports on Legault's family life, they are now roughly aged 26 and 27.
Shortly afterwards, St-Pierre Plamondon backtracked on his comments in a tweet.
"To come back to my statement this morning at the end of the press briefing, we had other information indicating that the [premier]'s two sons did not live with him," the PQ leader wrote.
"Mr. Legault confirms that his children live at his home, I take his word for it and withdraw my comments."
Another CAQ MNA called St-Pierre Plamondon's comments "irresponsible," saying they jeopardize Quebecers' morale around public health rules.
Christopher Skeete, the CAQ's deputy for relations with English speakers, told CTV News that if the public believes the premier isn’t following the rules, it will “lessen the population’s adherence” to those rules.
He was speaking before St-Pierre Plamondon issued his apology.
