Liberal MP receives death threats, suspect arrested

OTTAWA—A Liberal MP who says someone threatened to kill him is thanking the police for quickly arresting a man in the Kitchener-Waterloo area.In a statement posted online, the Waterloo Regional Police Service said they found and arrested a 44-year-old man the day after the local parliamentarian reported the online threats last week. The man was charged with uttering threats to cause death, the police said. The police did not respond Monday morning when the Star asked for the man’s name, which was not disclosed in their public release. In his own statement on social media, Kitchener-Conestoga MP Tim Louis thanked the police for “their swift action and diligence in handling this matter.” Contacted Monday, Louis’s office provided a statement that said the MP appreciates the messages of concern he has received, but that he would not comment further since the case is heading to court. The incident comes after several federal politicians have expressed concerns about an increasingly hostile political environment, with a perceived increase in public animosity that has included threats of violence. A man was charged with arson last spring after a Liberal MP’s office in Mississauga caught fire. Another MP, from northern Ontario, was allegedly pinned against a wall by a woman pushing a table in his campaign office during the 2021 federal election; the woman was charged with assault. Mounties also started an investigation after a man approached Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland in Alberta last summer and launched into a profane tirade, labelling her a “traitor.” Similar rhetoric has been used against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who was forced to cancel an event in British Columbia last year because of a protest that included one man carrying a model gallows with a dangling noose. Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said last year that he and his family have also received threats. He voiced outrage and filed a police report in September, after a prominent far-right figure made a lewd statement about sexually assaulting his wife. The man charged with uttering death threats near Kitchener-Waterloo is scheduled to appear in court on March 20. Alex Ballingall is an Ottawa-based reporter covering federal politics for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @aballinga