Feds offering security to candidates amid rise in threats to politicians

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OTTAWA — Threats against politicians are becoming so frequent that, for the first time, the federal government is offering private security to election candidates who feel intimated.

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The program is geared toward candidates who believe their security is at risk during the campaign but where the level of threat does not meet the threshold for police protection.

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If eligible, candidates will receive protection from an unarmed, private security service that will either act as their bodyguard (close protection), monitor their home, or both.

“It’s intended to provide support for such things like campaign events and also should they feel a personal threat,” said Allen Sutherland, Privy Council Office (PCO) assistant secretary for machinery of government.

“You have seen over the past few years, issues of intimidation of politicians. It’s happened on Parliament Hill. It’s happened in ridings,” Sutherland said during a briefing by the Security and Intelligence Threats to Elections (SITE) Task Force on Monday.

A security guard will be assigned to a candidate who meets any one of the criteria: they have been attacked, their property has been targeted by protesters or vandalized, they feel threatened by a “disruptive, uninvited individual” at home, or their personal information has been posted on the internet.

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The program is one of many first-time security boosts put in place by federal election watchdogs and organizers. That’s because there is a constant and concerning rise in threats against politicians lately, according to both the PCO and RCMP.

“One concerning trend is the intensification and rise of threats of violence and intimidation directed at Canadian public figures,” said PCO assistant secretary for communications Laurie-Anne Kempton during the Monday briefing.

“Candidates and public office holders should not be dissuaded from exercising their democratic rights because of a perceived or real threat to their personal security,” she added. “It is in Canada’s vital national interest that Canadians running for elected office feel safe.”

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The RCMP’s Gregory O’Hayon said the national police force is “very well seized” of the issue of threats to candidates but its protective mandate is limited to members of cabinet, party leaders and a few others designated for protection by the minister of public safety.

“The RCMP unfortunately cannot be everywhere, all at once,” O’Hayon said.

A PCO spokesperson did not immediately respond to questions about how many candidates had applied for private security through PCO.

Last week,Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault said Elections Canada had boosted availability of security at polling locations in light of ongoing “tensions” caused by the Israel-Hamas conflict and the historic trade war with the United States.

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A report by the SITE task force released last year found that threats against politicians have become “increasingly normalized” due to extremist narratives prompted by personal grievances and fuelled by misinformation or deliberate lies.

“Violent rhetoric routinely fixates on elected officials — with particular hostility towards high-profile women,” read the report obtained by The Canadian Press.

National Post, with additional reporting from The Canadian Press

cnardi@postmedia.com

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