MPs need ＂panic buttons＂ for mean tweets
Episode Stats
Words per minute
186.80812
Harmful content
Toxicity
2
sentences flagged
Summary
In this episode, Candice and Jon talk about how far our politics has fallen, and the panic buttons that politicians are now allowed to hold onto when they feel they are in danger, and which they can press if they feel that they're in danger.
Transcript
00:00:00.000
Why don't you tell us about these panic buttons for MPs here?
00:00:04.280
So we got news, I think it was, yeah, it was a couple days ago.
00:00:08.580
And the, what is it, the National Observer or Canadian Press, it might have been,
00:00:13.360
they wrote a story about how MPs are now receiving panic buttons,
00:00:17.760
which they're allowed to, they're supposed to hold on to and they can press
00:00:23.540
Now, this is supposedly because, Candace, they're receiving mean tweets
00:00:27.360
and death threats online from anonymous users or things like that.
00:00:32.760
And, of course, this is coming from Marco Mendicino, a Canadian who I think most people
00:00:37.920
quite detest at the moment because he's been caught lying and he's been used
00:00:42.600
by Justin Trudeau to push the emergencies order and the Emergencies Act.
00:00:46.860
And so now because he's receiving lots of mean tweets and lots of comments on social media,
00:00:51.560
he has ordered a bunch of panic buttons for MPs to hold on to when they go outside.
00:00:57.360
I mean, I can't really think of anything more emasculating for a politician
00:01:02.580
who's supposed to represent the people holding a panic button whenever a constituent
00:01:07.120
might come up to them and air some grievances, Candace.
00:01:11.960
And, you know, I put this out on Twitter because when I read this story,
00:01:16.260
the first thing I thought about was the fact that the honour in being a politician,
00:01:20.160
the honour in representing Canadians has completely gone.
00:01:23.540
There used to be this idea that if you were called a liar or if someone did something
00:01:28.700
dishonourable as a politician, not only would you take serious issue with it,
00:01:32.660
not only would that person be expected to resign, but as I mentioned here, in 1849,
00:01:38.120
John A. MacDonald challenged an opposition politician to a duel.
00:01:42.280
So they put their life on the line to defend their honour and to defend basically the institution
00:01:50.920
Imagine being a politician now holding a panic button in the same house where politicians used
00:02:00.040
They used to actually take the job seriously and they used to put their life on the line
00:02:05.760
I think this is just a symptom, Candace, of how far our politics has fallen.
00:02:10.340
And I followed that tweet up with this, you know, what year was it, 2012, 2011 or wherever,
00:02:17.360
when a terrorist stormed the House of Commons armed with a gun after killing a soldier in
00:02:26.700
You didn't, and MPs had to basically shelter in place in the House of Commons because a
00:02:30.580
terrorist was on the loose inside the House of Commons.
00:02:33.260
There was not a single MP who had the, who had really the audacity to call for a panic
00:02:38.440
button, they just got on with the job, they did the job that Canadians asked them to do,
00:02:42.580
and they weren't crying and whining about mean tweets.
00:02:45.300
We've fallen so far, I can't imagine being a liberal MP and holding one of these lame
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Like I said on Twitter, I can't imagine being such a loser.
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