Smith beefs up security following ransacking
Peterborough-Kawartha MPP Dave Smith said the ransacking of Labour Minister Laurie Scott’s constituency office in Lindsay is upsetting — and it will mean additional security measures at his own office in Peterborough.
Windows were smashed and graffiti was applied to the exterior of Scott’s office in Lindsay, shortly after midnight Wednesday.
The break-in came just hours after Premier Doug Ford’s government confirmed it would freeze minimum wage at $14 an hour and eliminate guaranteed paid sick days for Ontario workers.
The message in spray paint on Scott’s office exterior read: “Attack workers. We attack back. $15.”
Smith said he’ll have to adopt additional security practices at his newly opened office in Peterborough in the plaza on Water St. and Marina Blvd. “There’s no way I can have any staff member by themselves,” he said in a phone interview from Queen’s Park on Wednesday.
Meanwhile Smith also said he’s been receiving strongly positive reaction to his new private member’s bill calling for sanctions for Canadian-born terrorists.
The bill, The Terrorist Activities Sanctions Act, was introduced by Smith late last week.
It’s aimed at anyone convicted of a terrorist offence under the Criminal Code of Canada.
If passed, the bill would see children of parents convicted of terrorist acts determined to be in need of protection under the Child, Youth and Family Services Act. Convicted terrorists would be banned from receiving healthcare benefits, driving licences, Ontario Works support, WSIB coverage, education loans or grants, rent-geared-to-income or special needs housing and hunting and fishing licences.
Smith said Wednesday he’s already heard from people across Canada who want to thank him.
“It’s received a lot of positive reaction — a lot,” he said, adding that he’s heard little criticism over the bill.
Smith said “radicalized” people who “have nothing to do with mainstream thought” shouldn’t have access to privileges such as health care benefits.
Law-abiding Canadians snowbirds who overstay in locations such as Florida have their OHIP cut off, Smith points out.
“But we’ll hand it over to a terrorist who’s coming back?” he says. “Should that be what we’re doing?”
Meanwhile the provincial government announced earlier this week it will keep funding existing overdose-prevention sites, but won’t fund any additional sites.
Smith said the province’s plan involves treating overdose and also offering addiction services, all in one location.
While there was a bid earlier this year to open a temporary safe-injection site in Peterborough, Smith said it isn’t clear yet whether — or when — that plan will go forward.
A lot depends on the municipal election, he said: it remains to be seen how a new city council plans to address the opioid crisis.
“They (the government) was trying to be respectful of the incoming council.”