Catherine McKenna, a former Liberal cabinet minister who was often the target of harassment during her tenure, responded to a video of Deputy Premier Chrystia Freeland dealing with verbal abuse in Alberta on Sunday, saying the intimidation and attacks must be fought.
“It’s not right,” she told CTV News Channel, adding that too often it’s women and racialized politicians who face increased vitriol.
McKenna herself had previously been given the misogynistic and condescending nickname “Climate Barbie” by critics when she was environment minister.
“I don’t want women, I don’t want racialized Canadians, members of the LGBTQ+ community, Indigenous Canadians to think they can’t get into politics because they’re going to have to oppose it.
On Friday, a video was shared on Twitter showing Freeland and several staff members approaching an elevator in the lobby of City Hall in Grande Prairie, Alta.
The man filming followed Freeland to the elevator, hurling insults and swearing, while telling him to leave the province.
“She’s literally stuck in an elevator with all-female staff, I can’t even imagine how they felt,” McKenna said.
“The Deputy Prime Minister is tough. She can stand up to Putin. But a beefy guy thinks it’s hilarious to start yelling at him and physically intimidating the deputy prime minister with no security – [it’s] not good.”
In a statement posted to Twitter on Saturday, Alberta-born Freeland condemned the “threats and intimidation” and said she “will keep coming back because Alberta is home.”
McKenna said watching the video of Freeland facing a barrage of insults, she remembered it all too well.
“It’s that feeling where you turn around – someone calls out to you, and you’re open, so you say, ‘hey,’ and then you get attacked,” she said.
“That’s why I’m speaking out, because I remember that feeling of being scared, but I don’t want other people going through it either.”
During her political career, McKenna has frequently been the victim of misogynistic harassment, both online and in person, admitting in 2019 that she began to need a security detail on occasion – something that ministers are generally not equipped.
A situation similar to the Freeland encounter occurred outside McKenna’s Ottawa office in 2020, when a man approached the office during filming and shouted profanities at a staff member who replied, at one point referencing McKenna with a misogynistic slur.
On other occasions, while a politician, McKenna had spray-painted misogynistic words on her campaign headquarters and faced swearing and shouting in public with her children.
“There were some high profile incidents that were really concerning, not just for me, but for my family,” she said.
“But I am not the only one in this case. High level politicians, especially women, especially if you happen to be racialized, you get attacked.
McKenna quit politics in 2021 after six years as an MP, saying at the time that she wanted to spend more time with her family and focus on tackling climate change outside of government.
She said harassment is not the way we should deal with conflicting opinions, saying it’s clear in the full video of the harassment against Freeland that the situation was humorous for the man who yelled at the vice premier. minister.
“He thinks it’s really funny, that he stalked someone who got into politics, may have a different view, but just did it because [they] want to get things done,” McKenna said.
“If you’re crazy and have a different vision, volunteer for a campaign. Use the ballot box, that’s democracy.
McKenna had a message for his former colleagues in the House of Commons.
“You have to call him,” she said. “We need all politicians from all parties to say this is not acceptable.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and numerous politicians have spoken out in condemnation of the treatment Freeland received in the video, including several Conservative MPs like leadership candidate Jean Charest.
“What I’d like to see, first, is there’s a press conference with all the party leaders, they stand up and say, ‘That’s not right. This is not acceptable in Canada, we oppose this kind of abuse [and] harassment, and we’re going to make politicians safer,” McKenna said.
“Because it very quickly becomes a politicized issue. I remember when I spoke up, and some people were like, ‘what, you can’t take it?’ Yeah, guess what? I can take it, but it’s not okay.
She added that when politicians launch personal attacks themselves, it emboldens the behavior shown in the video with Freeland.
“We may have different points of view, but we can’t play politics like that,” McKenna said.
“We need a conversation here in Canada, and politicians, if you’re going to be in politics, you have to behave responsibly. Really talk, don’t attack people, but present ideas.