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CTV News
4 days ago
- Politics
- CTV News
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. Catherine Morrison, The Canadian Press
CBC
14-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson takes on federal housing portfolio
Canada's new housing minister is a familiar face to British Columbians. As Justin McElroy explains, Gregor Robertson's record on housing is in the spotlight as he moves from ex-mayor to federal minister.
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Political influence and powerful allies: how relative unknown Sam Rae catapulted himself into Labor's ministry
Moments after securing a landslide victory at the 2018 state election, a triumphant Daniel Andrews showered praise on his young campaign director, Sam Rae, who has now been fast-tracked to become a federal minister at just 38 years old. Rae remains an unknown figure to many outside Victoria, where he wielded political influence and cultivated powerful allies long before entering federal parliament in 2021 as the member for Hawke, on Melbourne's north-western fringe. His elevation to minister for aged care and seniors, just like his preselection in Hawke, came after a bruising factional fight. Rae, along with fellow Victorian rightwinger Daniel Mulino, was promoted after frontbenchers Ed Husic and Mark Dreyfus were dumped. Labor insiders concede the demotions were brutal. Rae's promotion has raised some eyebrows within Labor, including from former prime minister Paul Keating, who described Rae's Victorian right faction as 'demonstrably devoid of creativity and capacity'. Victorian Labor sources insist this criticism is unfair and fails to reflect Rae's experience. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email Rae worked as a factory labourer, a call centre operator and a childcare worker before becoming an electorate officer and adviser to former communications minister and Victorian right-faction power broker Stephen Conroy in 2015. In his first speech to parliament, Rae listed Conroy as a mentor along with Labor power broker Don Farrell and the deputy prime minister, Richard Marles, who leads the Victorian right faction. On Sunday, Husic accused Marles of being a 'factional assassin' who had orchestrated his demise. After six years with Conroy, Rae moved to Victorian Labor and ran its research and tactics unit. He then became the state party's secretary and ran the 2018 Labor campaign, which secured Daniel Andrews a second term. Rae worked alongside pollster Kos Samaras, who was not surprised by his promotion. 'He grew up in a single parent household with two other brothers and worked in factories to get himself through university,' Samaras said. 'It's not exactly been a blessed life. This is the sort of person you definitely want in the cabinet.' Samaras said Rae had shown 'an incredible ability to grasp huge complex logistical problems' during the 2018 state election, which he described as the best campaign he had worked on. Months after the 2018 election, Rae became a partner at PwC Australia. During this period, Rae worked with James MacKenzie, who is the chair of law firm Slater & Gordon and a board member of the Suburban Rail Loop Authority. MacKenzie is a Labor stalwart who overhauled the Victorian ALP headquarters in the late 1970s. Rae is 'definitely not a political hack,' said MacKenzie, who worked with him on non-government projects. 'The factions don't give out MBAs. The sort of work I engaged with while he was a partner at PwC was akin to serious policy work; that is what he brings to the table. 'I was impressed by his understanding of what is a well-formulated and well-structured policy and his broad business understanding. It's not very often you come across a 'political hack' who understands what the cost of capital is.' Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion Rae left PwC Australia after being preselected to run in the seat of Hawke, which also unleashed factional divisions. Some members aligned to former leader Bill Shorten wanted a woman selected. But Rae was selected by Labor's national executive, not branch members, due to the state branch being placed into administration after branch-stacking allegations. Several unions argued there should have been a ballot, and unsuccessfully launched court action to overturn the national executive's intervention. As an MP, Rae lists campaigning to deliver urgent care clinics to Sunbury and Melton among his greatest achievements. He told Guardian Australia he 'was a massive pain in the arse' within the party to ensure the money was allocated. One former senior Victorian Labor staffer, who worked with Rae but declined to be named so they could speak freely, said criticism of him as an unknown factional player was 'unfair'. 'He's a member of Labor's national executive, for one,' the source said. 'He's a deep thinker and you don't lead a landslide victory at a state election without having an understanding of both policy and politics.' In a statement, Rae said he was 'deeply honoured to have been asked to serve as minister for aged care and seniors'. 'It's a challenging portfolio and I'm proud to take it alongside Labor's talented team,' Rae said. 'There's a lot of work to do and we're ready to get started.'
