On a June day nearly 40 years ago, Brian Mulroney happened upon a 63-year-old woman named Solange Denis. Mulroney’s government was proposing to make a change to Old Age Security. Denis was mad about that and — with reporters watching — she conveyed her displeasure directly to the prime minister.
Mulroney’s run-in with Denis became a national story. The government was compelled to back down and “Goodbye Charlie Brown” subsequently became shorthand for how a single interaction with a voter can waylay a politician and a government.
What happened to Chrystia Freeland in Grande Prairie, Alberta last week was something else entirely — and many political leaders, from across the partisan spectrum, seemed to recognize that immediately. Among those who condemned the incident were Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and Ontario Premier Doug Ford, two politicians who have had their differences with the federal Liberal government.
So in addition to condemning harassment and renewing the conversation about the personal security of politicians, voters and politicians also need to ask themselves whether that video of the deputy prime minister being profanely accosted points to a larger angerproblem in Canadian politics.
The upside and downside of anger
Anger in politics isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Anger directed at real injustice is understandable and anger can be productive if it leads to real solutions. But there’s a difference between constructive anger and the corrosive kind — the kind of rage that is irrational or unjustifiable, that unfairly demonizes opponents or fellow citizens and isn’t aimed at finding real answers to real problems.
In 1985, Denis was worried about a real thing. Whether the change in OAS policy was wise or not, her protest was at least based in reality. But the man who approached Freeland last week reportedly “ranted about the Trudeau government being part of a conspiracy involving the World Economic Forum” in a subsequent interview with the Tyee. He also “claimed the government was trying to starve the public by forcing fertilizer limitations on farmers and was killing thousands of people, including children, with vaccinations.”
Beyond the misogyny and profanity of his comments, he also called Freeland a “traitor.”
WATCH: Alberta man hurls profanity at Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland
Alberta man hurls profanity at Chrystia Freeland, sparking social media outrage
24 hours ago
Duration 2:32
In a video circulating widely on social media, several people are seen approaching Freeland as she walks through Grande Prairie’s city hall toward an elevator.
Jared Wesley, a professor of political science at the University of Alberta, said those who consider such extreme behaviour acceptable are still in the “very, very small minority.” In that respect, he said, Canada’s political culture is strong.
“What we need are more politicians from across the spectrum to stand up and reinforce it,” he added.
Wesley points to Alberta UCP leadership candidate Danielle Smith and federal Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre. Neither proactively issued a statement about the Freeland video — Poilievre did eventually comment when asked about it during an interview — and both have taken aim at the World Economic Forum and a federal policy proposal on fertilizer that is the subject of rampant misinformation.
United Conservative Party of Alberta leadership candidate Danielle Smith has been scoring political points off the World Economic Forum and a federal policy on fertilizers that has been the subject of widespread misinformation. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press)
It shouldn’t be too much to ask of politicians that they not only refrain from encouraging conspiracy theories but also call out irrational fears — particularly when those theories are being espoused by their own supporters. In an interview with CBC Radio’s The House earlier this year, Erin O’Toole recalled trying to correct constituents who came to him with “things they’re reading on social media, conspiracies and ideas and frustration.”
If political leaders are willing to condemn the verbal assault on Freeland, shouldn’t they also be willing to say that the World Economic Forum is not part of a sinister conspiracy and vaccines are safe?
Is the public following the lead of politicians?
In a newly published collection of academic analyses of the 2021 federal election, Christopher Dornan, a journalism professor at Carleton University, notes the public hostility that was on display during last year’s campaign. But he argues that “it was rich, perhaps, to hear politicians express shock and dismay at the animosity of the public, given the example they set by making Parliament into a public theatre of perpetual anger, no matter how much of this is playacting.”
It can be difficult to draw a causal link between any particular incident and a politician’s words — and the mobs of people yelling at Justin Trudeau last year were no doubt inspired by far more than the tenor of question period. But it’s fair to ask whether Canadian politics is unnecessarily fostering an atmosphere of anger and whether Canadian politicians are promoting a corrosive kind of animus.
A man, top right, throws gravel at Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau, left, as the RCMP security detail provide protection while protesters shout at a local microbrewery during the federal election campaign in London Ont., on Monday, September 6, 2021. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press)
While some politicians seem to be stoking anger, we should ask whether others are doing enough to minimize division.
As Wesley notes, politicians are ultimately rational actors. As long as anger serves as a tool to secure a comfortable victory (and in the current situation, that might require as little as 35 per cent of the vote), leaders might be tempted to chase it.
Ideally, politicians would take responsibility for the health of democracy. But for anger and extremism to fail, voters have to turn away from it.
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick‘s Progressive Conservative leader disrespected the province’s residents by presenting the death of a Liberal supporter as funny, the party said as it called for Blaine Higgs to apologize.
Higgs drew the party’s ire during remarks made at his Thursday campaign kickoff event in Quispamsis, N.B., held hours after he dissolved the legislature and officially triggered the campaign leading up to the Oct. 21 provincial election.
His speech to party faithful included a second-hand anecdote of a conversation that purportedly took place in 2014 between a party volunteer canvassing for votes and a newly minted supporter. At the time, Higgs was seeking re-election as the legislature member for the Quispamsis riding, which he has represented since 2010.
The conversation, the story went, began when the canvasser was leaving the home of a woman who had just voiced her intention to vote for Higgs.
“(The volunteer) said: ‘Thank you very much. That’s great.’ Then she started walking next door, and the lady said: ‘Oh, you don’t need to go there. She passed away a few weeks ago,'” Higgs said in his retelling of the story. “This campaigner — you know, very passionate individual — said: ‘I’m so sorry. Was she sick long? Or what happened? And the lady just said, ‘Oh, don’t feel too bad. She was a Liberal.'”
“I know that’s not an appropriate joke, but it was funny and it is true,” Higgs concluded.
Hannah Fulton Johnston, executive director of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, condemned Higgs’s anecdote in a statement issued on Friday in which she called the joke distasteful.
“The New Brunswick Liberal Association is calling on Blaine Higgs to apologize for this comment,” it reads.
“Making light of the death of any New Brunswicker is highly inappropriate for anyone and completely unacceptable for the premier of the province.”
Green Party Leader David Coon described the anecdote as disgusting and questioned whether the comment could be passed off as a joke.
“It’s a very dark comment,” he said on Friday.
Higgs, 70, has so far stuck to broadly populist messages as he seeks a third term as New Brunswick’s premier. His key issues so far have included bringing down the harmonized sales tax from 15 to 13 per cent and requiring teachers to get parental consent before they can use the preferred names and pronouns of young students in class.
When asked about the Liberals’ request for an apology, Progressive Conservative Party Executive Director Doug Williams shifted the focus back to past remarks from Liberal Leader Susan Holt and tried to draw a parallel between her and her unpopular federal counterpart.
“If Susan Holt is truly concerned about offensive comments, will she apologize for saying that concerns of parents about their children are ‘BS’? … Will she apologize for saying the Premier acts like a fascist?” the statement reads.
“The media have not paid any attention to these remarks, despite Progressive Conservatives raising them publicly. Just like Justin Trudeau, Susan Holt wants apologies for things that other people have done, and never wants to apologize for her own actions.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2024.
British Columbia NDP Leader David Eby is in his first election campaign as party leader and is looking to capture the NDP’s second consecutive majority victory on Oct. 19. Here are some highlights from his life and career.
Age: 48. Born July 21, 1976, in Kitchener, Ont.
Pre-politics: An award-winning human rights lawyer, who was the B.C. Civil Liberties Association executive director, an adjunct professor of law at the University of British Columbia, president of the HIV/AIDS Legal Network and served on the Vancouver Foundation’s Health and Social Development Committee.
Politics: Eby, the MLA for Vancouver-Point Grey, was first elected in 2013, defeating then-premier Christy Clark in the riding, forcing her to run in a byelection in Kelowna. He became leader of the party and premier in 2022, replacing former premier John Horgan who left office due to health issues.
Personal: Married to family physician Dr. Cailey Lynch. The family recently welcomed a third child, daughter Gwen.
Quote: “For me, I feel the extra weight of the significance of the election in terms of can we preserve what’s made us successful over the years of working together as a province.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2024.
VICTORIA – British Columbia Green Leader Sonia Furstenau is running in the Victoria-Beacon Hill riding in the Oct. 19 election, returning to the capital after representing the Cowichan Valley riding since 2017.
Age: 54. Born June 8, 1970.
Pre-Politics: Bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history as well as abachelor’s degree in education from the University of Victoria. Furstenau has worked as a high school teacher in Victoria and Shawnigan Lake and served as a director with the Cowichan Valley Regional District for three years prior to entering provincial politics.
Politics: Elected to the B.C. legislature in 2017 for the Cowichan Valley riding and re-elected in 2020, shortly after winning the BC Greens leadership contest that year.
Personal: Furstenau recently moved back to Victoria, where she lives with her husband. The couple shares two sons, and Furstenau told The Canadian Press she is looking forward to becoming a grandmother for the first time in November.
Quote: “When we have a right-wing party pandering to these kind of culture war issues, and then we have the NDP that has abandoned so many of (its) progressive values … more than ever, we need BC Greens in the legislature to keep the focus on the health and well-being of people, communities, the environment and our economy.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 21, 2024.
