European Parliament member and anti-globalization activist Jose Bove has been told to leave Canada by Wednesday, preventing him from speaking at an event opposing a planned EU-Canada free trade deal, according to Bove and local organizers.

 

The Council of Canadians, a social justice non-profit, said that Bove had been denied entry to Canada ahead of a public forum the group had organized in Montreal on the Canadian-EU Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA).

 

Bove tweeted on Tuesday evening that he had been blocked at Montreal airport for three hours and blamed it on his opposition to CETA.

 

Bove said in an interview with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that he had been allowed to go to his hotel, but his passport was confiscated and he was told he would have to leave the country Wednesday afternoon.

 

A spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency declined to comment on the specific case, saying a person may be deemed inadmissible to Canada for a number of reasons, including criminality and security.

 

Bove is known as an anti-globalization activist and for participating in the vandalism of a McDonald's restaurant in 1999. He was elected to the European Parliament in 2009.