A top Canadian politician swallowed a bee while speaking to reporters Friday, and went right on waxing about health care policy.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford was taking questions from reporters in Dundalk when the insect flew into his mouth and went down the hatch, according to CBC. The voluble politician laughed it off – after trying in vain to expel the honeymaker.
“Holy Christ, I just swallowed a bee,” Ford said as he coughed violently.
Doug Ford swallows bee during live news conferencehttps://t.co/SPPkAvmjqF pic.twitter.com/SQVxkQoEGH
— CP24 (@CP24) August 12, 2022
He took a long pull from a water bottle and then quipped: “This is going to be played over and over again.”
As the audience watched with concern, Ford seemed to be in discomfort.
“Sorry guys. The little bugger got away in there,” he said.
When someone asked if he was okay to resume his speech, Ford said he was.
“I’m OK. It’s buzzing in there,” he said. “Man, he went right down the hatch.”
Ford finally recovered and resumed his speech about health care, saying he will “get creative” in considering how it can be delivered, including potential further privatization.
After winding down, Ford still had the bee in his belly and on his mind.
“This is a good one … I can’t remember what we were talking about. I’ll be rushing to the hospital to get this bee out of here,” he said.
The bee “is working hard building a hive down there,” he added as the news conference ended. “That sucker is still buzzing away.”
The 57-year-old Ford, who was elected in 2018, is the older brother of the late Rob Ford, the colorful onetime mayor of Toronto who battled crack cocaine and alcohol addiction before dying of cancer in 2016.