This story was first published by Orillia Matters, a Village Media publication.
The OPP vows to do a better job of policing its social media accounts.
Earlier this week, some of the almost 60,000 followers of the OPP Central Region X account (formerly Twitter) noticed some unusual traffic on the social media account for the provincial police agency.
On Monday, the account reposted a tweet from Brad Redekopp, MP for Saskatchewan West, which showed a photo of a Liberal MP making a gesture he said was akin to giving Canadians the finger over the carbon tax.
The OPP social media account also reposted a Canada Proud Tweet that included the same photo with the caption: “The Trudeau Liberals are letting you know what they think of you wanting affordable heating this winter.”
Canada Proud, on its social media account, says of itself: “Justin Trudeau is a threat to Canadian democracy and prosperity. He must resign. Sign our petition.”
The OPP Central account also reposted a tweet from Glenda Mcfarlane whose X bio, which features a photo of Conservative leader ‘Pierre Poilievre for PM,’ says: “Zero tolerance for Liberals who still support Trudeau.”
The OPP account reposted her post that said: “The million dollar question is what did Trudeau promise Blanchet in return for the Blocs votes.”
Bill Dickson, the OPP’s manager of media relations, says he and the force “regret” the incidents.
“The OPP sincerely regrets the shares that were made on the OPP Central Region X account,” Dickson told OrilliaMatters.
“The OPP is non-partisan and has a responsibility to remain impartial. The ideas shared do not reflect the opinions of the organization,” he added.
“This appears to have been an error by a member believing they were on their personal account,” Dickson said.
Dickson said very few people have access to the social media account and those who do are well trained.
“Only a limited number of media relations trained officers have access to OPP social media posts,” he said. “We have taken steps to ensure that this does not happen again.”
When asked what consequences the media relations officer would be facing, Dickson said: “There is no punishment in this matter, as this was an accident. The individual and all other local media officers have been strongly reminded of the responsibilities they have.”
The reposted Tweets were removed when the OPP learned of them.
