Death threats, vandalism target Tory government

Labour reform bill rolling back Liberal changes blamed for attack on office

The premier of Ontario received death threats and his labour minister had her constituency office vandalized hours after a sweeping labour reform bill was introduced in the legislature, the Progressive Conservative government said Wednesday. Government House Leader Todd Smith said the incidents were an attempt to bully and intimidate the government and would not be tolerated.

“What we want is to see ... some of these other radical groups acknowledge the fact that a line has been crossed here,” Smith said. The proposed labour law, introduced Tuesday, freezes the minimum wage at $14 an hour until 2020 as part of a rollback of labour reforms introduced by the previous Liberal government shortly before the spring election. The measures have been met with strong criticism from anti-poverty activists, union leaders and opposition parties. Labour Minister Laurie Scott said her office in Kawartha Lakes was broken into and vandalized early Wednesday morning. She said the windows were smashed and the outside wall was spray-painted with a message that read “Attack Workers. We fight back. $15.” “This is obviously tied into the piece of legislation that we introduced (Tuesday)” Scott said. “I believe in democratic and peaceful protest and debate but we will not tolerate vandalism, intimidation or bullying .... We don’t know who did this, we are just saying everyone should say that that’s not acceptable.”

Scott said local and provincial police are investigating. NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said people should engage in peaceful protest if they disagree with the government’s decisions. “No matter how much hurt this government creates, no matter how far they drag us backwards, no matter how many disappointing announcements we get ... there is no justification for violence, no justification for criminal activity,” she said.