Trudeau dined at Lone Oak’s Charlottetown Pub during a brief stop on the island last week. While at the pub, owners, staff and customers were photographed with the Prime Minister. The pub later posted these photos on social media platforms. Jared Murphy, co-owner and CEO of Lone Oak Brewing Company, said he was excited to host the prime minister at the pub, which only opened for business in mid-May.

“We had thousands of comments”

Three of PEI’s four Liberal MPs, including Charlottetown MP Sean Casey, Malpeque MP Heath MacDonald and Cardigan MP Lawrence MacAulay, were also at the pub and appeared in some of the photos with the premier. At Lone Oak, owners, staff and customers had their photos taken with the premier. The pub later posted these photos on its social media pages. (Lone Oak) “So within hours, we had thousands of comments, we were getting hundreds of private messages, now we’re getting phone calls to the brewery and all of these comments are extremely negative, vulgar, using a lot of profanity, sexualizing our staff,” Murphy said in an interview outside the pub. “To see a group of people, who have never visited our store, who are taking a political stand, threatening our brewery, saying they’re going to take us down, that they’re going to wait until we file for bankruptcy until they’re done with us, that was really difficult for our staff,” he said. In addition to social media comments, personal messages and phone calls, photos of Lone Oak’s three owners have appeared on a national website calling out Trudeau supporters.

“This, of course, seemed to fail”

Casey described the campaign against Lone Oak as “extremely unfortunate”. He said he reached out to the premier’s office and was told this has happened in other parts of Canada, but this is the first time it’s happened in Atlantic Canada. Charlottetown MP Sean Casey described the campaign against Lone Oak as “extremely unfortunate”. (Wayne Thibodeau/CBC) The Charlottetown MP floated the idea of ​​Trudeau having lunch at the pub. “I feel bad that the owners are going through this,” Casey said.
“Even if I had thought about the downside, I would recommend them. I think it’s an honor for someone to come into public life and it’s a good profile for the business,” he said. “That, of course, seemed to backfire to some degree, but I’m sure the islanders will rally around this business and that most of the people offering this abuse aren’t from here.”

“It was nothing political”

Malpeque MP Heath MacDonald said the aim of the Prime Minister’s visit to the pub was to help a small business. Murphy, left, talks with servers Emma MacKinnon and Rachel MacKay. Murphy says he was more concerned about the impact all the criticism was having on his staff. (Wayne Thibodeau/CBC) MacDonald blamed “right-wing extremism” for PEI’s anti-pub campaign. “This is a new business, three young guys trying to do it,” MacDonald said. “It was nothing political, it was a visit to a restaurant and an opportunity to show it off to a prime minister.”
Back at the pub, Murphy said the negative comments had yet to have a significant impact on his business. He said a handful of people who say they’ve patronized the pub in the past have told him they won’t be back. But he is concerned about an online campaign to lower his pub’s ratings.

“It’s kind of unbelievable”

Since launching this online campaign against Lone Oak, the pub’s rating has dropped from 4.8 out of 5 to 2.8. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also met with families at Tea Hill Park in Stratford while on Prince Edward Island last week. (Kate McKenna/CBC) “And that could have a negative impact on our business, which is really, really disappointing to see,” Murphy said, adding that PEI is a popular tourist destination and many tourists use these ratings to decide where to go.
“For the group of people who are now threatening a small business is kind of antithetical to what they’re doing against the prime minister.”
Political commentator and journalist Rick MacLean said the political landscape is becoming more unpleasant in Canada and points the finger at the US. He believes it’s a new reality promoted by social media platforms, and Lone Oak is paying the price.
“I think social media has fundamentally changed the way we get our information, and I worry that because it’s changed the way we get our information, it’s going to change the way we behave, not just how we vote, but how we interact with the each other and how we interact with politicians,” MacLean said.

“I would definitely open my business to any elected official”

The owners of the pub have not ruled out taking their concern to the police. Despite the online firestorm, Murphy says he would have the prime minister, regardless of political stripe, back again. (Wayne Thibodeau/CBC) Despite the online firestorm, Murphy said he would have the prime minister, regardless of political stripe, back again. “I would certainly open my business to any elected official in our democratic country.”