BURST
A craft brewery in St. Thomas is distancing itself from a former executive after a photo of him making an obscene gesture outside a Liberal rally in Brantford went viral on social media.
Matt Janes, who is a volunteer for David Goodwin, a Liberal candidate in Elgin-St. Thomas-London South, was photographed as he held up both middle fingers in front of his smiling face.
The photo was taken while hundreds of Liberal supporters attending a rally for Liberal Leader Mark Carney at the Sassy Britches Brewing Co. in Brantford on April 19 waited in line. A group of protesters, some with F*** Carney flags, were heckling them.
The photo was posted on X and has since become an internet meme, with some users saying the “Brantford Boomer” reflects the party’s perceived indifference to younger Canadians facing high housing costs.
Internet sleuths found the man in the photo was Janes, 68, a retiree and former partner at Railway City Brewing Co. in St. Thomas. He also was involved in On Track St. Thomas, the group that created the St. Thomas Elevated Park, and served on the boards of the Elgin County Railroad Museum and the CASO Station.
Following hundreds of comments on the brewery’s social media page, chief executive Dave Clarke said in a statement posted Tuesday on Facebook that Janes has not been associated with the company since 2022, and that his “personal actions and opinions are his alone and are not representative of the views or values of our team.”
A post on the brewery’s Facebook page saying Janes was a partner is “what started (the comments),” Clarke said.
“Folks were assuming that Matt Janes was still running Railway City, and they were targeting the brewery as a result of that,” Clarke told The Free Press on Tuesday. “So I just wanted to let them know that the business was under new ownership and that we’re not a politically affiliated business. We’re in the business of selling beer, having good times and being a member of the community, and that’s it.”
In a statement to The Free Press on Tuesday, Janes said he was standing in line for the Brantford rally, attended by more than 1,000 people, with other Liberal supporters when they were met with a “vulgar F*** Carney crowd” who were “harassing and shouting obscenities” in their faces, including calling them “pedophiles” and using megaphones for about an hour.
“It was a stressful situation. Many of them with cameras, waiting for that moment when someone would respond. I regret reacting to it because they got what they wanted, which is something to use against David Goodwin’s campaign and the Carney campaign,” Janes said in an e-mail.
Laura Blondeau, a spokesperson for Goodwin’s campaign, said Janes is a campaign volunteer who has been delivering pamphlets.
The Liberal party has not cut ties with him, Blondeau said.
“They (Conservatives) are flooding social media with pictures of Janes, is what they’re doing. But that kind of gesture is not a reflection of the tone of our campaign. We’re running a positive campaign with a very specific message.“
bbaleeiro@postmedia.com