SLURS AT MLA CONDEMNED
Security boosted after threats
The most heartwarming message MLA Sandra Jansen got Wednesday came from a man with a gun.
Not one of the government security agents now protecting her — a Canadian soldier serving in Ukraine.
“The remarks against you I found extremely offensive,” he wrote.
“I am a soldier currently on my fifth deployment. I have seen the good, the bad and the ugly of humankind.
“At least we as soldiers can defend ourselves from attacks. In this case you shouldn’t have to ...
“I would like to congratulate you on your courage.”
Jansen asks that he not be named, given the stricture against soldiers voicing political views. But she was pleased by support from such a distant quarter.
She says she also got hundreds of supportive messages from female politicians all over the country, after she read out the exact wording of some “bitch” and “bimbo” insults she’s received.
The BBC picked up the story on the very day the murderer of Jo Cox, the female British MP who opposed Brexit, was sentenced to prison with no chance of release except by cabinet order.
Jansen’s comments were destined to go viral from the moment an NDP researcher handed her a list of the latest sexist taunts and threats.
She decided to simply read the words directly in the legislature, without any preamble.
“What a traitorous bitch ... another useless tit goes NDP ... dumb broad — a good place for her to be is with the rest of the queers,” and so on.
People who were generally aware that women take an extra dose of venom suddenly saw the reality. Or at least a hint, because a lot of it is far worse.
And the story instantly launched into the mainstream and social media worlds.
“I think part of it was the contrast between the formal language you usually hear in the legislature, and suddenly hearing those words,” Jansen says.
She’s got that right. Many opposition MLAs looked like they didn’t know where to put themselves. Finally they decided this had to be a good thing, and applauded wildly.
A furious debate began as soon as the news came out.
Some people suspect Jansen is just deflecting the animosity she faces because of her floor-crossing to the NDP last week. They’re so mad they think she deserves everything she gets.
The NDP isn’t beyond a deflection here and there, that’s for sure.
Floor-crossing is a dubious, risky move at best, although legitimate in the parliamentary sense.
Those who do it are in for a rough time, especially in Alberta. Just ask ex-Wildrose leader Danielle Smith, or any of the other 10 who crossed with her to the Progressive Conservatives in December 2014.
But the point here is that people can be as angry and critical as they like about a political decision, without turning it into an anti-female, anti-gay rant that often includes serious threats.
A security detail from the Executive Protection Unit is not assigned as a political stunt. It’s done on some indication of real danger, assessed by tough, skilled officers who include both men and women.
There’s a regular detail for the premier, but protection for an individual MLA is extremely rare.
It’s also costly. The people who make these threats can congratulate themselves on forcing the government to spend even more money.
One view is that politics is rough and anybody in that world has to be able to take the heat. But why should women face extra heat?
And why does most of the flame-throwing come from men?
Although this is worse than it’s ever been, women in Canadian politics have always faced the taunts and sneers.
Agnes Macphail, the first female elected to Parliament, in 1921, once snapped a comeback that today would look very good on Jansen’s gender-obsessed tormentors.
An MP sneeringly asked her: “Doesn’t the honourable member wish she were a man?”
Macphail replied: “Doesn’t the honourable gentleman wish he was?”