(Ottawa) Justin Trudeau’s family vacation to Tofino was temporarily marred by the sudden appearance of a representative of a right-wing website who managed to get within inches of the prime minister, under the gaze of RCMP officers.
What there is to know
While on vacation, Justin Trudeau was accosted and chased by a representative of the right-wing website The Counter Signal.
The individual managed to approach the prime minister and remain alone with him for a while before the bodyguards arrived.
RCMP officers should have intervened more quickly, according to security specialist Michel Juneau-Katsuya.
The Prime Minister tried to turn away Keean Bexte, a former member of the Rebel News organization, but to no avail. So he ended up inviting him to walk in the sand with him, after seeing his youngest son, Hadrien, come out of the water and approach them.
“What you see in this video is a father who decided to remove his child from a conflict situation. There is nothing more to add,” Mohammad Hussain, Justin Trudeau’s press secretary, wrote in an email Wednesday.
It took some time – reaction time is difficult to gauge due to the editing – before the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officers arrived and stood between the two men and the child.
Despite the editing, it seems clear that there was “a mistake,” according to security specialist Michel Juneau-Katsuya. Because while the bodyguards “weren’t asleep at the gas,” they nevertheless took too long to intervene to stop what was clearly “harassment,” he judges, on the other end of the line.
The former RCMP and Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) officer points out that this is not an isolated incident: other ministers, including Mélanie Joly, have also been targeted by individuals equipped with cell phones.
There, it’s the Prime Minister! We’re lucky, the tweet was only armed with a phone. If he had a bladed weapon, he would have had time to stab him 12 times.
Michel Juneau-Katsuya, security specialist and former RCMP and CSIS member
And what is all the more “alarming” in this situation is that less than two weeks ago, the Republican candidate for the American presidency, Donald Trump, narrowly escaped an assassination attempt, insists Michel Juneau-Katsuya.
PHOTO MARCO BELLO, REUTERS
Donald Trump, former President of the United States
The Prime Minister’s office declined to comment on security issues, nor did the Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who referred us to the federal police. The latter had not provided any comments as of Wednesday.
Trudeau responds to the man
This isn’t the first time Justin Trudeau has been accosted in Tofino, British Columbia. On September 30, 2021, Global News tracked him down on the beach during the first National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Last Monday, Keean Bexte was in Western Canada tracking down a fugitive premier who was eager to “flee his caucus,” he claims in the video published by The Counter Signal, of which he is editor-in-chief, according to his LinkedIn profile.
He concludes by saying he is “delighted” that the Prime Minister answered his questions, and in passing, he invites Internet users to contribute to his organization, which “asks questions that the CBC network would never ask.”
Between questions – which have already been asked several times – to the head of the Liberal government on his political future, the polls or the fact of chartering a government machine to go on vacation, Keean Bexte was also grilled by his interlocutor.
“A question for you: do you believe that children who grow up in the family of a prime minister deserve to have a semblance of a normal life with their family?” Justin Trudeau says.
“Absolutely, yes,” replied the man who had just arrived on the beach.
The exact location of the Trudeau clan’s stay in Tofino has not been revealed for security reasons. The prime minister is in British Columbia for about 10 days in total.