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Global News
4 days ago
- Politics
- Global News
Decades after a PM got pied, the threat landscape in Canadian politics has changed
When Prime Minister Jean Chrétien got hit in the face with a pie 25 years ago, the only thing hurt was his pride. A quarter-century later, Canada's security landscape has changed radically. Threats of violence against politicians have become far more common. What seemed like a harmless prank then looks more like a warning now. 'There is this view that you're a politician, it's all fair game,' said Catherine McKenna — who was herself the target of multiple threats of violence while she served as a federal minister. 'We need people to go into politics and not feel threatened. It's literally about the health of our democracy because if you want people to go into politics, you can't expect that they're going to put up with this and their families are going to put up with it.' Documents released by the Privy Council Office show that the volume of threats made against the prime minister and cabinet ministers has exploded in recent years. Story continues below advertisement A chart shows that there 40 threats against the prime minister and his cabinet were recorded in 2021. That number rose to 91 in 2022, 236 in 2023 and 311 in 2024. The PCO document reports that 11 threats specifically targeting then-prime minister Justin Trudeau were recorded in 2021. The following year saw 25 threats against the PM reported. In 2024, Trudeau was the target of 212 threats, the document shows. Between 2021 and 2024, the Privy Council document shows that Trudeau was the subject of 90 threats of death. The document says the 2024 statistics cover the period between January 1 and July 17. While McKenna said most of the threats against her emerged online, she was famously singled out for very public abuse during her 2015 to 2021 cabinet career — once while walking with her children outside a movie theatre. 'It's just happening all the time and at all levels,' she said. 'I can't talk to a politician without them giving me a story about what has happened, and often women, especially racialized, Indigenous members of the LGBTQ2+ community. 'You just don't know … probably 99 per cent of (threats) are nothing. It just only takes one person … I don't think you can fool around with this.' The P.E.I. pie incident happened on Aug. 16, 2000, while Chrétien was visiting an agricultural exhibition in Charlottetown. Story continues below advertisement As the prime minister entered the building and began shaking hands with people, a man in the crowd went up to him and pushed what appeared to be a cream-topped pie into his face. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy As a shocked-looking Chrétien peeled off the pie plate and wiped his face, the man — who had attempted to flee — was stopped by police. While the RCMP acknowledged that the incident shouldn't have happened, it wasn't the first such security breach during Chrétien's time as prime minister. In 1996, Chrétien grabbed a protester by the chin and neck and pushed him aside during a National Flag of Canada Day event — the incident that later became known as the 'Shawinigan Handshake.' A year before, Chrétien's wife Aline came face-to-face with an intruder who had managed to break into the prime minister's official residence in Ottawa armed with a knife. Michele Paradis, the RCMP assistant commissioner in charge of protective policing, said police have to strike a 'difficult balance' between keeping officials safe and allowing them access to the public. 'Because, really, if MPs, ministers of the Crown are not going out to meet with their constituents, that has an impact on our very democracy,' she said. 'My role is to make sure that our members and our principals are equipped with not only the physical tools to stop that, but also the mental acuity to be able to say something is not right,' Paradis said, adding that Mounties were quick to bring down someone who got too close to Trudeau at a parade in Montreal in 2019. Story continues below advertisement Paradis said the threat landscape has calmed down somewhat since the recent change of government. If an official is threatened online, she said, Mounties will pay the person levying the threat a visit to determine whether they have the capacity to act on it, or if there is a mental health issue at play. Paradis said the RCMP works with government officials, the House of Commons, constituency offices and security officers for various ministers to complete risk assessments. 'I think we've got a better sense of the picture of what's going on,' Paradis said. There have been several recent efforts to boost security measures for elected officials. In 2024, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme asked the government to consider drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials. Around the same time, former public safety minister Marco Mendicino called for the creation of 'protective zones' around political constituency offices to shield members of Parliament and their staff. McKenna said she'd like to see an independent protective service created specifically to protect the prime minister and other federal officials. She said she'd like to see the government pass online harms legislation and hold social media companies accountable for the threats posted on their platforms. Story continues below advertisement McKenna said politicians also need to stop launching personal attacks on each other in order to generate social media clips. 'The problem is when they get personal, then it's easy for people to basically dehumanize people,' she said. 'It means that it's OK to say terrible things about people and … it's OK to go up to them and shout at them in the street and threaten them.' When asked if more security measures are needed, Paradis said she and most police officers 'work within what we have now' and adapt when things change. Rob Huebert, a professor in the department of political science at the University of Calgary and director of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies, said the 'near assassination' of U.S. President Donald Trump last year demonstrates that, even today, a determined assassin can still get close to a politician. 'On so many of these events, you can try to have metal detectors, you can try to have pre-screening, but it's impossible to ever try to achieve 100 per cent security … the threat of an assault on a political leader is one of those constants,' he said. 'The threat is always there.' Huebert cited the example of the so-called 'Toronto 18' terrorism plot, exposed in 2006, which was to involve a series of public attacks to convince the federal government to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. Story continues below advertisement He said the fact that there have been no successful attacks on Canadian government officials could be the result of improved security — or it could be because no one else has tried. Chris Mathers, a retired RCMP officer and president of a consulting and investigative firm, said the 2000 pie incident shows how Chrétien 'didn't stay in the box' — meaning he often strayed from the protective perimeter provided by his security detail. Trudeau, he said, 'always stayed in the box,' perhaps because, as the son of a prime minister, he grew up aware of threats against politicians. 'If you stay in the box, there's a lot less chance that you're going to be confronted by somebody with a pie or a knife or a gun or a bomb,' Mathers said. Mathers said 'the world is changing' and that people are now 'a lot more aggressive and will do and say things that they wouldn't in the past.' 'The problem is that we've started to degrade into a very permissive society and inappropriate behaviours are almost considered to be courageous in some areas,' he said. 'So yes, security around public figures has increased, just as a result of the changing social environment.' — With files from Jim Bronskill
Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
Decades after a PM got pied, the threat landscape in Canadian politics has changed
OTTAWA – When Prime Minister Jean Chrétien got hit in the face with a pie 25 years ago, the only thing hurt was his pride. A quarter-century later, Canada's security landscape has changed radically. Threats of violence against politicians have become far more common. What seemed like a harmless prank then looks more like a warning now. 'There is this view that you're a politician, it's all fair game,' said Catherine McKenna — who was herself the target of multiple threats of violence while she served as a federal minister. 'We need people to go into politics and not feel threatened. It's literally about the health of our democracy because if you want people to go into politics, you can't expect that they're going to put up with this and their families are going to put up with it.' Documents released by the Privy Council Office show that the volume of threats made against the prime minister and cabinet ministers has exploded in recent years. A chart shows that there 40 threats against the prime minister and his cabinet were recorded in 2021. That number rose to 91 in 2022, 236 in 2023 and 311 in 2024. The PCO document reports that 11 threats specifically targeting then-prime minister Justin Trudeau were recorded in 2021. The following year saw 25 threats against the PM reported. In 2024, Trudeau was the target of 212 threats, the document shows. Between 2021 and 2024, the Privy Council document shows that Trudeau was the subject of 90 threats of death. The document says the 2024 statistics cover the period between January 1 and July 17. While McKenna said most of the threats against her emerged online, she was famously singled out for very public abuse during her 2015 to 2021 cabinet career — once while walking with her children outside a movie theatre. 'It's just happening all the time and at all levels,' she said. 'I can't talk to a politician without them giving me a story about what has happened, and often women, especially racialized, Indigenous members of the LGBTQ2+ community. 'You just don't know … probably 99 per cent of (threats) are nothing. It just only takes one person … I don't think you can fool around with this.' The P.E.I. pie incident happened on Aug. 16, 2000, while Chrétien was visiting an agricultural exhibition in Charlottetown. As the prime minister entered the building and began shaking hands with people, a man in the crowd went up to him and pushed what appeared to be a cream-topped pie into his face. As a shocked-looking Chrétien peeled off the pie plate and wiped his face, the man — who had attempted to flee — was stopped by police. While the RCMP acknowledged that the incident shouldn't have happened, it wasn't the first such security breach during Chrétien's time as prime minister. In 1996, Chrétien grabbed a protester by the chin and neck and pushed him aside during a National Flag of Canada Day event — the incident that later became known as the 'Shawinigan Handshake.' A year before, Chrétien's wife Aline came face-to-face with an intruder who had managed to break into the prime minister's official residence in Ottawa armed with a knife. Michele Paradis, the RCMP assistant commissioner in charge of protective policing, said police have to strike a 'difficult balance' between keeping officials safe and allowing them access to the public. 'Because, really, if MPs, ministers of the Crown are not going out to meet with their constituents, that has an impact on our very democracy,' she said. 'My role is to make sure that our members and our principals are equipped with not only the physical tools to stop that, but also the mental acuity to be able to say something is not right,' Paradis said, adding that Mounties were quick to bring down someone who got too close to Trudeau at a parade in Montreal in 2019. Paradis said the threat landscape has calmed down somewhat since the recent change of government. If an official is threatened online, she said, Mounties will pay the person levying the threat a visit to determine whether they have the capacity to act on it, or if there is a mental health issue at play. Paradis said the RCMP works with government officials, the House of Commons, constituency offices and security officers for various ministers to complete risk assessments. 'I think we've got a better sense of the picture of what's going on,' Paradis said. There have been several recent efforts to boost security measures for elected officials. In 2024, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme asked the government to consider drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials. Around the same time, former public safety minister Marco Mendicino called for the creation of 'protective zones' around political constituency offices to shield members of Parliament and their staff. McKenna said she'd like to see an independent protective service created specifically to protect the prime minister and other federal officials. She said she'd like to see the government pass online harms legislation and hold social media companies accountable for the threats posted on their platforms. McKenna said politicians also need to stop launching personal attacks on each other in order to generate social media clips. 'The problem is when they get personal, then it's easy for people to basically dehumanize people,' she said. 'It means that it's OK to say terrible things about people and … it's OK to go up to them and shout at them in the street and threaten them.' When asked if more security measures are needed, Paradis said she and most police officers 'work within what we have now' and adapt when things change. Rob Huebert, a professor in the department of political science at the University of Calgary and director of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies, said the 'near assassination' of U.S. President Donald Trump last year demonstrates that, even today, a determined assassin can still get close to a politician. 'On so many of these events, you can try to have metal detectors, you can try to have pre-screening, but it's impossible to ever try to achieve 100 per cent security … the threat of an assault on a political leader is one of those constants,' he said. 'The threat is always there.' Huebert cited the example of the so-called 'Toronto 18' terrorism plot, exposed in 2006, which was to involve a series of public attacks to convince the federal government to withdraw troops from Afghanistan. He said the fact that there have been no successful attacks on Canadian government officials could be the result of improved security — or it could be because no one else has tried. Chris Mathers, a retired RCMP officer and president of a consulting and investigative firm, said the 2000 pie incident shows how Chrétien 'didn't stay in the box' — meaning he often strayed from the protective perimeter provided by his security detail. Trudeau, he said, 'always stayed in the box,' perhaps because, as the son of a prime minister, he grew up aware of threats against politicians. 'If you stay in the box, there's a lot less chance that you're going to be confronted by somebody with a pie or a knife or a gun or a bomb,' Mathers said. Mathers said 'the world is changing' and that people are now 'a lot more aggressive and will do and say things that they wouldn't in the past.' 'The problem is that we've started to degrade into a very permissive society and inappropriate behaviours are almost considered to be courageous in some areas,' he said. 'So yes, security around public figures has increased, just as a result of the changing social environment.' — With files from Jim Bronskill This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.
National Observer
5 days ago
- Business
- National Observer
Federal budget watchdog has 'no idea' who successor will be or when the person will be named
Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux has "no idea" who will be taking over his job when his term ends next month. Giroux, who took on the job in 2018, will mark his final day on September 2. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Giroux said he's reached out to the Privy Council Office multiple times for information over the last few months, noting that he wants to ensure an "orderly and smooth" transition. He says the government has kept "quiet" and has told him there's no news yet to share. "I'm just a bit surprised that they haven't done anything," Giroux said. Asked if he might stay in the role past Sept. 2, Giroux said he hadn't heard anything about a possible extension. The Parliamentary Budget Officer is an agent of Parliament who provides independent economic and financial analysis to the Senate and House of Commons. Giroux said it concerns him that a new Parliamentary Budget Officer has not yet been named, especially with a budget planned for the fall. He said parliamentarians rely on his office to provide them with non-partisan analysis and information. Giroux said the government is soon scheduled to table a budget that could include "significant new spending and policy priorities" and reductions. He says parliamentarians will be in "desperate need" of a non-partisan view on that budget and its impact on the federal government and the Canadian economy. "It would be unfortunate and it would happen at a very unfortunate critical time in the budget cycle for parliamentarians," Giroux said. Giroux said the Prime Minister's Office recommends an appointment and senior staff in the Privy Council Office handle the vetting and interviews if they choose to undergo a competitive process. The government could select an interim PBO at any time by order-in-council but an appointment for a full, seven-year mandate needs to be approved by the House of Commons and the Senate, he said. MPs are set to return to the House of Commons for the fall sitting in mid-September. The Canadian Press has reached out to the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council Office for comment but has not yet received a response. Giroux said he can understand the delay, given that the Prime Minister's Office has been busy managing Canada-US relations and recently hosted the G7 summit. Still, he said that when he was appointed, the approval was made a full two months before the position became vacant. "I had a few months to talk to my predecessor and start getting ready," Giroux said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.
Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Federal budget watchdog has ‘no idea' who successor will be or when they'll be named
OTTAWA – Parliamentary Budget Officer Yves Giroux has 'no idea' who will be taking over his job when his term ends next month. Giroux, who took on the job in 2018, will mark his final day on September 2. In an interview with The Canadian Press, Giroux said he's reached out to the Privy Council Office multiple times for information over the last few months, noting that he wants to ensure an 'orderly and smooth' transition. He says the government has kept 'quiet' and has told him there's no news yet to share. 'I'm just a bit surprised that they haven't done anything,' Giroux said. Asked if he might stay in the role past Sept. 2, Giroux said he hadn't heard anything about a possible extension. The Parliamentary Budget Officer is an agent of Parliament who provides independent economic and financial analysis to the Senate and House of Commons. Giroux said it concerns him that a new Parliamentary Budget Officer has not yet been named, especially with a budget planned for the fall. He said parliamentarians rely on his office to provide them with non-partisan analysis and information. Giroux said the government is soon scheduled to table a budget that could include 'significant new spending and policy priorities' and reductions. He says parliamentarians will be in 'desperate need' of a non-partisan view on that budget and its impact on the federal government and the Canadian economy. 'It would be unfortunate and it would happen at a very unfortunate critical time in the budget cycle for parliamentarians,' Giroux said. Giroux said the Prime Minister's Office recommends an appointment and senior staff in the Privy Council Office handle the vetting and interviews if they choose to undergo a competitive process. The government could select an interim PBO at any time by order-in-council but an appointment for a full, seven-year mandate needs to be approved by the House of Commons and the Senate, he said. MPs are set to return to the House of Commons for the fall sitting in mid-September. The Canadian Press has reached out to the Prime Minister's Office and the Privy Council Office for comment but has not yet received a response. Giroux said he can understand the delay, given that the Prime Minister's Office has been busy managing Canada-U.S. relations and recently hosted the G7 summit. Still, he said that when he was appointed, the approval was made a full two months before the position became vacant. 'I had a few months to talk to my predecessor and start getting ready,' Giroux said. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 15, 2025.
Ottawa Citizen
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
MacDonald: The ideal setting for the prime minister's new home
Article content In the long sorry tale of finding a home for our prime minister, many ideas have surfaced, some more worthy of consideration than others. Andrew MacDougall's recent suggestion in the Ottawa Citizen that Rideau Hall would be just right for the job has sparked a debate we should snuff out here and now. Article content It is perhaps typical of Canada that neither the representative of our head of state (the Governor General), nor our head of government (the prime minister), has a residence purpose-built to their roles. But there is nothing particularly unusual or wrong about that. Like both Rideau Hall and 24 Sussex Drive, 10 Downing Street was built as a private residence. Nor is it likely that it's what anyone would choose if starting from scratch. Article content Article content Article content Indeed, even Buckingham Palace started out life as a private residence, and the familiar façade we see today was only one of the later, many additions and improvements made over the course of the last two centuries. Article content The same holds true for Rideau Hall, which was built originally as a private residence for Thomas McKay, but which has served as the vice-regal residence for every single Governor General of Canada since Confederation. Few at first would have thought it a suitable residence for the sovereign's representative but over the intervening decades it has seen additions and improvements with a view to making it just that, an appropriate venue for affairs of state, such as are performed by the Governor General. Article content The prime minister, on the other hand, has no need for a similar venue. Nor does he need the kind of office space available at Rideau Hall for the Governor General's staff and other vice-regal functionaries. He already has significantly more office space in the Privy Council Office building and in the Parliament Buildings. Article content Article content Article content What the prime minister does need, though, is a home, one that is safe and secure. And appropriate for the role, for while the prime minister does not preside over events such as Order of Canada investitures requiring venues like the ballroom at Rideau Hall, he should be able to host his international peers in a style of which Canadians can be proud. I've been to a reception at 24 Sussex. It doesn't fit the bill. Article content And while I'm no expert, I can well believe it wouldn't be anyone's first choice from a security perspective. But then would Rideau Hall be any better? I'm surprised it hasn't happened yet given how long the prime minister has been living at Rideau Cottage, but does anyone think the grounds of Rideau Hall would remain open to the public if the prime minister moved in for good? (And does anyone remember the outcry the last time the grounds were closed to the public for 'security reasons?')
