Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has called for political leaders to take a united stance against threats of violence and intimidation.
Trudeau commented Monday after Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland was confronted at City Hall in Grande Prairie, Alberta Sunday by a man who repeatedly yelled profanity at her and called her a traitor.
“What we’re seeing increasingly is that people in public life, people in positions of responsibility, particularly women, racialized Canadians, people of minority, or different community groups, being targeted,” he explained.
He said the “cowardly behaviour” threatens and undermines our democracy and our values and openness and respect upon which Canada was built.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino agreed that threats of violence and intimidation against politicians are becoming more common.
Mendicino is confident Canadians can unite against that kind of dangerous behavior.
“The threats that we see don’t only impact the individuals, their families, and their teams, it represents a threat to our democracy and if we want to continue to drive forward, we need to be able to have robust debate. It’s important that we keep that debate civil,” he said.
Mendicino said we need to ensure people can lend their voices to our politics.
“I have confidence in Canadians, that we’re able to unite around this. This is not a partisan issue,” he added. “We need to bring the temperature down, and just remember that we’re all trying to make the country better.”
