Ottawa Airport Tequila Incident
On February 23, 2010, Blackburn provoked an argument with airport security officials when a bottle of Tequila in his possession was confiscated prior to boarding an aircraft at Ottawa Airport, in accordance with Transport Canada security regulations. Blackburn wanted to keep the bottle in his possession in the cabin. When security officials refused, Blackburn presumed that the staff would simply drink his tequila and thereby demanded the tequila be emptied in his presence. The argument became heated and security officials called Ottawa Police to deal with Blackburn. According to a senior government official "The minister wasn't pleased by the fact he had to leave the bottle of alcohol behind. He was upset that they wouldn't destroy it in front of him," the official said, on condition of anonymity. "He was verbally abusive." The tequila incident was compared to another event at Charlottetown Airport 4 days earlier involving Conservative Minister Helena Guergis who verbally abused airport staff. Twenty six days later Blackburn issued a statement apologizing for the incident.
Read more about this topic: Jean-Pierre Blackburn
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