MPs should have ‘protective zones’ amid rising threats: former safety minister

Liberal Marco Mendicino is calling for protective buffer zones around MP offices to be legislated into law amid rising threats and intimidation against public officials.

Former public safety minister Marco Mendicino is calling for the creation of “protective zones” around political constituency offices to shield members of Parliament and their staff from a rising tide of threatening behaviour.

Mendicino, a Toronto Liberal MP, said under the plan anyone who intimidated or otherwise harassed people within the buffer zone of perhaps 50 to 100 metres would be subject to harsher criminal penalties including jail time.

In an interview, Mendicino suggested spelling out such zones in regulations that will flow from the recently passed foreign interference bill, which contains new measures to protect essential infrastructure.

The former minister’s comments come as the attempted assassination of ex-U.S. president Donald Trump prompts renewed concern and discussion about the safety of Canadian politicians.

“We have to take parliamentary security more seriously,” Mendicino said. “We need as Canadians to open our eyes and recognize that political violence is not something that just occurs somewhere else, but that it is happening here in our own communities.”

People have constitutional rights to express a point of view and disagree with fellow Canadians including parliamentarians, he said.

“But it’s also true that we’re seeing more threats, more intimidation, more harassment, which can lead to harm both online and in the community.”

In the last few years, several MPs from different parties have had their constituency offices targeted, including graffiti spray-painted on the exterior and rocks thrown through windows.