Imagine picking up your phone and receiving abusive messages every day.
Women in politics have spoken of their experiences of dealing with sexism and hatred on social media while voicing their political opinions.
Gender equality charity Chwarae Teg said it feared a growing number of women were being put off standing for election due to online abuse.
Two young women in politics have spoken about their experiences facing online abuse to the BBC’s Politics Wales.
One member of the Labour Party, who wishes to remain anonymous, said she had to deal with sexist attacks on social media every day.
“I get called a whore, that I’m a slut, that I should put my tits away, that I’m unintelligent, that I’m an idiot, that I should go away and bake a cake instead – which was my personal favourite,” she said.
“[They claim] I’m uneducated, I have no place in politics, and you get this daily, it’s recurrent.”
She said she had also experienced misogyny from male politicians, but had not reported any of the incidents “because there’s no point”.
“I’ve had experiences of councillors who’ve kissed me, who take me aside, who say ‘you know if you don’t sleep with me then you won’t get anywhere in the Labour party’,” she said.
“It makes me feel really angry. It makes me feel scared as well, and for a long time I stayed off social media because of just how sort of upset it made me.
“But I’m very aware that personally I can sort of bat it off, but there are young girls who are coming up through politics, who maybe don’t have the same coping mechanisms that I do.
“It makes me feel really angry for them, because with those things you’re scared away. If you’re put down so much, you sort of listen to it, and it really is horrid.”
Jas, a member of the Liberal Democrats, said people had brought up her sex life on social media.
“I’ll get messages like death threats, bullying, or just really unkind comments about what I look like or my personality, or political views I hold. So it is quite bad,” she said.
“My sex life gets brought into it a lot as well. So people will say I’m a slut, I’m a whore, things like that.
“Even on the views I hold I’ll be called an idiot or even more severe than that, like people will say I’m a retard.
“It’s constant. I must get three of these messages every week or two. For a young person to deal with I think that’s a lot.”
Jas has complained, but said that there was “not much” the party could do.
“In our party, at the moment our complaints procedure isn’t functioning very well. It’s kind of backlogged,” she said.
“We have very severe complains that haven’t been dealt with properly, so never mind small complaints. In terms of parties and reporting, not many people do it, because there isn’t much you can do.”
Helen Antoniazzi, of Chwarae Teg, said there was a risk social media abuse could discourage women from engaging in politics.
“I think that essentially what is at the bare bones of this is people trying to stop women from having a voice and from expressing their opinion, and this is a way they can see they can do that,” she said.
“There’s a fear that more and more women will be put off standing for election and putting themselves forward for political positions, because of the fear of this abuse and because of the abuse in itself.
“We’ve got a role as a wider society to make sure that abuse is challenged and is not seen as acceptable so that women do feel able to put themselves forward and to participate in politics and express their opinions.”
A Labour spokesman said the party took all complaints of abuse and harassment, online or in person, extremely seriously.
All complaints are fully investigated, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken, he added.
Meanwhile the Liberal Democrats said the party took issues seriously and investigated all complaints.
It added that there were also organisations within the party which support women and young people, including helping them to deal with social media abuse.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
