Belgian foreign minister’s Twitter hacked, profane message sent aimed at Canada

OTTAWA — The Belgian government says a profane Twitter message featuring a photo of former prime minister Stephen Harper is the work of hackers, not their foreign affairs minister.

Someone accessed the account belonging to Didier Reynders, using it to send a meme of an angry-looking Harper telling off Canadians, complete with the F-word.

The subtext of the tweet appears to be the fact that a region of Belgium is standing firm in its opposition to the Canada-EU free trade deal, known as CETA.

A tweet from the department’s verified account Tuesday said recent messages published on Reynders’s account were not his.

The approval of the deal between Canada and the European Union countries has come under threat this week after a region in Belgium rejected the agreement.

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The region of Wallonia rejected the deal amid fears that its farmers could face cheap Canadian produce and that many of the labour standards they fought for will be swept away.

The Canadian Press

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