Threats, harassment and online hate driving women out of politics, MPs warn

Liberal leadership hopeful Gould says that harassment has worsened, particularly on social media and through threats to her constituency office.

As longtime Liberal MP Pam Damoff prepares to leave politics when the next federal election is called, she is wistful but open about what is driving her to leave a career she has had for more than a decade.

Vocal about the misogyny and threats she faced during her time in government, she wants public safety officials to take these threats more seriously.

“We’ve seen a shift in how people treat politicians, and I really worry that at some point, someone will be injured or killed,” Damoff said in an interview.

Damoff said harassment escalated during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She adds, “I have no regrets about running for office … the real issue is retention. Whether you’re on a construction site, in journalism, or in politics, we make better decisions when diverse voices are around the table.”

While just over half of the Canadian population identifies as female, data from Equal Voice, a registered charity advocating for gender parity in Canadian politics, shows that fewer than one in three elected officials at the federal level are female.

A 2023 study by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities showed about the same number of municipally elected politicians were women, though women accounted for only one in five mayors.

Equal Voice data shows that at the provincial level, women’s representation averages 38 per cent, varying from above 50 per cent in British Columbia to below 25 per cent in Newfoundland and Labrador.