Friday, Minister Mélanie Joly walked peacefully in Montreal, enjoying like many Quebecers the first beautiful days of spring.
Taken by surprise by a man with a phone in his hand filming her, Mme Joly acted as many people would have done in similar circumstances.
First, she got her hands on the device, then came to her senses and spoke to the man in question to ask him to stop.
The man said to Mélanie Joly: “My job is to harass you.” Really? No one has the mandate or the right to harass an elected official.
Not the first time
This video went around the country and allowed many people to realize that federal ministers are not adequately protected.
Federal ministers have a driver, usually when they are in Ottawa, but they do not have a bodyguard at all times. A serious mistake.
- Listen to the political meeting with Yasmine Abdelfadel and Marc-André Leclerc via QUB :
Besides the video with Mme Joly, there have been other incidents involving federal ministers, including Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland, a few months ago.
Thus, one may wonder what the government and elected officials are waiting for to provide ministers and party leaders with adequate security.
An alarm clock
Unfortunately, we must stop thinking that we are safe from a major accident involving an elected official. So, we must hope that the event involving Mélanie Joly last Friday will help change things.
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Because if we have two minutes of consideration for ministers, we will give them adequate working conditions and protection worthy of a G7 country.
Furthermore, as it is increasingly difficult to recruit women and men into politics, it would be good for newcomers to feel that politics is a safe environment.