Being a politician or public health official seems to bring many more security risks as of late, from online threats to angry crowds at public events and protests outside of family homes.
In Manitoba, some changes have been made, and more are being proposed, to try to ensure that serving in public office does not put personal safety at risk. One idea is to make people’s home addresses less available online.
“Social media has tended to change the discourse on life and politics, so I think this has been a growing concern for a while, compounded, I think, perhaps by the pandemic, but not specifically by it,” Kelvin Goertzen , a veteran member of the Manitoba Legislature who serves as minister of public and legislative affairs, said in an interview.
Manitoba’s three major political parties are discussing some changes to the Elections Act, including removing the requirement that each candidate’s home address be posted online. Candidates currently have the ability to apply for an exemption, but the default position is to make addresses publicly available.
The new opposition Democrats have introduced a private membership bill in the legislature that would establish buffer zones around hospitals, schools, daycare centers and the homes of many types of healthcare workers. The bill, which would need the support of the progressive conservative government to pass, would ban any protests against COVID-19 restrictions within buffer zones.
In the legislature, recent security measures include a reduction in the number of entrances and exits to the manor building.
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Premier Heather Stefanson is considering more security for officials at public events.
“I feel safe but… more recently, we have incorporated some security. So we’re trying to see what that looks like, making sure we’re not overdoing it, but we’re looking at everyone’s safety. “
The most visible sign of security changes occurred outside the home of then-Prime Minister Brian Pallister earlier this year. The 9,000-square-foot mansion had been the center of public attention in 2012, when some local media outlets reported Pallister’s purchase of the $ 2 million property.
The number of protests outside the property increased during the pandemic. At one point, people could be seen at the prime minister’s entrance. A security car began to park at the scene. In 2021, a large fence was erected around the perimeter.
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Pallister said there were often people on the property approaching the house.
“I would rather not give you examples, there are too many … I will just say that no family should be subjected to that,” Pallister said in an interview with The Canadian Press in August.
“If it was just me… I’m a combative guy, so I’d face it. But when you involve my wife and our daughters, that’s when it immediately becomes totally unacceptable. “
Pallister did not want to go into detail. He said he is concerned that highlighting threats and personal security issues could deter people from running for office.
“My wife is not a shrinking violet. She still holds the rebounding record (University of Manitoba women’s basketball). You don’t get it unless your elbows are pretty sharp. But when a mother sees her daughters exposed to things like this, she doesn’t play with Mama Bear, let’s put it that way. “
Pallister sold the house shortly after leaving politics and the fence collapsed.
NDP leader Wab Kinew said he has been on the receiving end of threats but declined to discuss details.
Dr. Brent Roussin, the province’s director of public health, told reporters last summer that he had received threats and, at one point, police called him due to suspicious activity near his property.
On a Facebook page involving people upset by the results of the Progressive Conservative leadership elections that saw Stefanson beat Shelly Glover in the race to succeed Pallister, one person posted a reference to the violent riots in the Capitol building. from the United States last January.
“Shelly only needs to give the floor and her people will take out a January 6 and install her as prime minister,” read the message, published in mid-December.
He had won two likes.
© 2021 The Canadian Press
Reference-globalnews.ca