A rural Manitoba school division says it is investigating after a gym teacher posted a photo to Facebook showing him holding a sign insulting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The photo was taken after an event attended by Conservative MP Candice Bergen at the kindergarten to Grade 12 school in Miami, Man.
In an interview with CTV Winnipeg, physical education teacher Brent Unrau says he asked for a photo with Bergen and in it, the two hold signs that together read: “Trudeau is just the worst.”
Unrau says in hindsight he should not have posted the photo and he removed it from social media three hours later.
He says he doesn’t consider himself political and he was not trying to push a political agenda on any students.
The Prairie Rose School Division says it is investigating the posting.
“This interaction occurred after the planned events and was an unscheduled meeting/interaction,” reads a statement from the division. “The posting does not reflect the views of the division and the division does not condone this type of political partisanship.”
Bergen also posted the photo to her Instagram and detailed what happened.
In the post, the MP says a “constituent” asked her to hold a sign with his feelings about Trudeau and that she agreed because “a lot of people feel the same way you do Brent!”
Bergen’s Instagram post has since been deleted.
Area residents are split on the matter.
Tina Waldner, whose children all go to Miami School, says that while the post surprised her, she found it funny.
“I kind of chuckled at first. I mean a lot of us maybe carry the same opinion. It was just pretty bold,” Waldner says.
But Kerri Wiebe, who attended Miami School growing up, reached out to the school division after seeing the post. She says a teacher should be non-partisan and should not endorse any political candidate on school grounds.
“As an MP she should be setting an example for children, and doing this childish name calling in a school — she should have known better,” Wiebe says.
Miami is about 115 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.
