Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said July 15 he had been briefed by the RCMP and Canada’s spy service after an attempted assassination of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
“They went through the threat landscape,” he said. “They talked to me about the additional vigilance that they’ve put in place since the assassination attempt.”
Mr. LeBlanc said the government won’t talk about specific security measures. “But I am confident that the RCMP will do what’s necessary to protect elected leaders in Canada.”
Mr. LeBlanc also said he exchanged text messages with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on July 14 to assure him that measures were in place.
The minister took questions from reporters in New Brunswick on July 15 morning, with the shadow of violence in the United States hanging over Canada’s political scene.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said it is wrong to inflame debate to the point of harassment or violence.
“I’m worried about the increase of that in the political forum in general. I’m worried about that polarization,” he said on July 15 in Toronto.
“You should be able to raise concerns, you should be able to say that you don’t agree with a policy and that you’re really upset at it. But it should not be that we treat political opponents as enemies.”
The shooting at a Trump rally in Pennsylvania on July 13 left one attendee dead and two others critically injured. Officials said the gunman was killed by Secret Service personnel.
Mr. Trump, who was not seriously injured, is in Milwaukee for the Republican National Convention.
Canadian politicians have condemned the act of violence and called for unity.
The Prime Minister’s Office said on July 14 that Justin Trudeau spoke with the former president, reiterating there’s no place for political violence and expressing condolences for the victims.
President Joe Biden said on July 14 he had ordered an independent security review of the events leading up to the attack on his political rival.
On July 15, Mr. LeBlanc acknowledged there have been threats of violence against Canadian politicians, but he wouldn’t share the specifics about how many, to whom they are directed or where they are coming from.
“It can in fact encourage other people to behave and to do things that are obviously unacceptable in a democracy,” he said.
Mr. LeBlanc said Ottawa has extended additional funding to the RCMP over the last couple of years to make sure the force has “all the tools necessary and the people necessary.”
He added that ensuring politicians are safe is also important when it comes to attracting people to public life.
“If you see discussions about threats of violence, about intimidation, about attacks on social media, it’s going to be harder to get good people to come forward and offer themselves to the service of their communities.”
