Verbal and physical threats against American politicians have been a constant factor in U.S. politics, with the most severe being the assassinations or attempts to assassinate politicians since that of John F. Kennedy. In Canada, threats against political figures have grown in the last decade in particular. During the 2019 federal electoral campaign, even Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was forced by his security detail in an “unprecedented” step to wear a bulletproof vest at a number of rallies. It was also unprecedented to have a heavily armed uniformed Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) tactical team in plain sight around Trudeau, since normally they are in the background and out of site. Just recently, Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was verbally accosted by a man in a hotel lobby in Grande Prairie, Alberta. The incident, although Ms. Freeland was not physically hurt, is now under investigation by the RCMP for potential criminal charges. At the moment, there is an election in the province of Quebec where emotions run high over the provincial government’s handling of the pandemic. Security around Quebec’s provincial party leaders appears to be high in the early days of the election campaign. The potential of threats has forced Party Quebecois (PQ) leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon to wear a bulletproof vest to keep him safe. His party certainly recalls the deadly election-night shooting that marred the victory party of former PQ premier Pauline Marois in September 2012. Quebec provincial police spokesman Nicolas Scholtus did not confirm whether security around the campaigning leaders was higher than in previous years, but he acknowledged that there was a rise in reports of harassment or threats directed at Quebec politicians during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Numerous Canadian politicians of all stripes condemned recent incidents of hateful threats against the PM and ministers in his cabinet, especially where female ministers and members of Parliament are targeted. The general theme of condemnation is that such behaviour has no place in Canada. They sincerely believe that people all run for office to promote dialogue on important public policy issues, and harassment like this cannot be tolerated. However, simply issuing statements of condemnation most likely will not have an impact on the current political environment. The RCMP and other enforcement agencies will have to continue to collect intelligence and conduct threat assessments for all events that political leaders attend.
Michael Kempa, an associate professor of criminology at the University of Ottawa, pointed out that politicians everywhere have been facing increased threats due to what he calls “the new reality of polarization and violence that’s directed against public facing political leaders and other activists in our community.” Professor Kempa attributes this in part to the spread of U.S. political culture, where threat levels have been high for years, and also to the COVID-19 pandemic. Canadians can no longer rely on a tradition of promoting civility in political dialogue. In an age of social media and digital conspirators, it has become difficult to lower the temperature of the political climate. There are just too many disgruntled and angry individuals out there who are convinced that threats and violence are the only way in which to confront governments and politicians. Unfortunately, the continuing outrage by Donald Trump followers after the F.B.I.’s seizure of classified documents at his Mar-a-Lago, Florida residence, has only contributed to further threats against government agencies, including the U.S. Justice Department and even the National Archives. It doesn’t help that one of Mr. Trump’s closest allies, Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, issued a similar warning that Mr. Trump quickly reposted on his social media platform. Mr. Graham, in a Fox News appearance on August 28th, predicted that if the search of Mar-a-Lago led to a prosecution of the former president, there would be “riots in the streets”.
Canada has its own radical factions, as demonstrated by the occupation of its capital, Ottawa, by members of the truckers’ convoy for three weeks in January of this year. There is little doubt that federal and provincial politicians will be a target for disgruntled individuals and groups. One can only hope that there will be no resulting physical assaults on politicians and leaders. I’m afraid that given the current polarization within Canadian society that such eventuality cannot be prevented, despite heightened security measures for political figures.
FROLITICKS 