Pandemic protesters target homes of Doug Ford and his ministers, raising police interest and neighbors’ anger

Pandemic protesters have been targeting Prime Minister Doug Ford’s Etobicoke home for almost two years, which has angered locals and required continued police surveillance.

Toronto police say several people have been “warned” in recent weeks near Ford’s Etobicoke home and the Annex home of Health Minister Christine Elliott.

“In the course of the pandemic, the prime minister’s family and neighbors were subjected to regular protests outside their homes,” said Ivana Yelich, the prime minister’s executive director of media relations.

“A large group of noisy and disruptive protesters camped outside his house again (in December), which disturbed his neighbors and prevented his family from entering their house. “This follows repeated protests outside Minister Elliott’s house,” she said.

Yelich remarked “the only thing these people are doing is targeting and harassing innocent neighbors and family members who have nothing to do with the government’s decision making. Furthermore, it takes away much-needed resources from the police. ” She said protesters “have every right to come to the grounds of Queen’s Park like anyone else to express their views.”

One Ford neighbor who called the Star to complain about the protests said it was “ridiculous” that they still had to endure the weekly Saturday protests, which began in the spring of 2020.

“They’re anti-lockdown, they’re anti-wax, they’re anti-everything. One guy even had a ‘No 5G’ sign. It’s the bottom of the barrel,” said the neighbor, who spoke in confidence. to discuss local residents’ frustration.

“The protests were bigger before Christmas with a few dozen people every Saturday morning, but it seems that the weather calmed them down a bit. But we still get it, ”he said on Wednesday, adding that the recent removal of portable toilets used by construction workers who bury hydrolines has also helped because protesters have nowhere to relieve themselves.

“There are police officers here all the time and they have installed CCTV (CCTV cameras) on a telephone pole right in front of (Ford’s) house.”

Ford’s office confirmed on Wednesday that the protesters were outside his home again last Saturday.

Over the past few days, videos have appeared on social media of a crowd against vaccine protesting outside Education Minister Stephen Lecce’s home in his King-Vaughan ride.

Sources say they were disruptive – flashing lights, honking car horns, shouting vulgarities and banging on pots and pans. Neighbors also reported that protesters were blocking traffic.

Vaccine and lock-up protesters were also in full force during the summer at Lecce’s home, with crowds of more than 20 people, and the Star learned that they had used an encrypted messaging app to book the hiring of private detectives to ” digging up dirt “on the minister.

Lecce was also followed when he left his home while on personal time, and a car tried to box his in.

York Regional Police say no arrests have been made.

“Usually when officers are called to attend a protest of any kind, our primary function is to ensure that citizens are safe and that the protest remains peaceful,” said Const. Laura Nicolle said in a written statement to the Star when asked about the latest protests at Lecce’s home.

“Every demonstration is different with different elements, but if it becomes unsafe for anyone, officers may have to intervene. “If a serious criminal offense occurs, officers can make an arrest at the scene, or for other lesser offenses, an officer can use discretion or possibly file a complaint later.”

Lecce’s director of media relations, Caitlin Clark, said that “over the past year, neighbors have been subjected to regular protests outside their homes. “This bullying tactic will have no impact on this government’s decision to do the right thing to protect the people of Ontario.”

Toronto Police Service Connie Osborne said on December 20 that police were “monitoring a protest in the residential area” where Ford lives in Etobicoke “to ensure safety and to keep the peace”.

Osborne said “while acknowledging that everyone has the right to protest, one woman was arrested at the scene for obstruction after violating a barrier and failing to obey police. She was then warned and released. No other issues were reported. “

In mid-December, police were sent to Elliott’s Annex House – where the minister, a widow, lives with one of her adult triplets’ sons, who has a disability – following “reports from a group of disorderly people” . “

“Officers stayed in the area,” Osborne said. “There were no arrests then. However, the group was warned by officials “and left just after 22:00

Last June, a man was charged with possession of a weapon and 11 charges of mischief outside Ford’s home after neighbors reported their car tires were cut off by a man who later shouted threats at the prime minister’s front door.

Then, in October, Ford addressed the ongoing protests during a news conference, saying, “I ask the protesters (who) show up at my house every Saturday morning. It’s not about me. I’m gone, I’m not there. “My neighbors, they are frustrated,” he said. “They did not sign up for this … I signed up to be the prime minister.”

Conservatives at Queen’s Park are not the only politicians facing protests at their homes.

Councilman Joe Cressy, who chairs Toronto Public Health, has had regular wax and anti-lockout protests outside his downtown area.

Such violent protests were also held at vaccine clinics and outside hospitals, where health care workers were scolded and harassed in the front line while going to work.

Private businesses, such as Bar Vendetta, a popular restaurant in Dundas Street West whose owner, Jen Agg, spoke in favor of vaccination passports, were also selected by a strike. “hard, deceived, extremely intrusive anti-vaxxers.”

Prime minister Justin Trudeauwhich promised to criminalize such protests at hospitals, suggested that the behavior was a symptom of the pandemic.

“We recognize that mental health stress, economic tensions, extremism and protest issues have created a dynamic where there are more threats to people serving the public than before, whether they are doctors or public health experts or politicians,” he said on Wednesday.

Trudeau said “no one in the course of their work should be confronted with threats of violence, threats to their families, and that applies to health care workers or to politicians or anyone else.”

Robert Benzie is the Star’s Queen’s Park bureau chief and a reporter covering politics in Ontario. Follow him on Twitter: @robertbenzie