MPs say harassment, including psychological harassment by fellow MPs, must be addressed by House of Commons
Then-Deputy Sergeant-at-Arms Patrick McDonnell carries the wooden mace through the Hall of Honour in February, 2016, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.Threats directed at MPs have skyrocketed in the past five years, with harassment online and in person increasing by around 700 per cent, the most senior official responsible for Commons security told a committee Tuesday.
He said the Commons monitors social media and asks platforms to take down threatening posts about MPs, but they do not always do so. Since Elon Musk took over X – formerly Twitter – it has become far more difficult to get the platform to respond because staff Mr. McDonnell’s office used to speak to in Canada were removed.
The committee is also looking at whether to update Commons rules on harassment to include complaints by MPs about harassment by other Parliamentary colleagues. “At the end of the day it’s how a member feels,” she said, adding that she was not talking about debates in the chamber. Liberal MP Pam Damoff, who earlier this month announced she will not run in the next federal election after experiencing misogyny and threats to her life, told the committee that her office had set up a “whole sub-folder in our inbox called misogyny”.
The Conservatives have put forward a motion in the House of Commons to remove Mr. Fergus as Speaker, saying the former parliamentary secretary to the Prime Minister lacks neutrality in the role.
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