Canada’s deputy PM Freeland verbally abused, Trudeau condemns ‘disturbing trend’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday condemned an abusive verbal attack on his deputy prime minister and finance minister, Chrystia Freeland, which he described as an “extremely disturbing harassment” that was not an isolated incident.

“We are seeing increasingly people in public life and people in positions of responsibility, particularly women, racialised Canadians, people of minority or different community groups, being targeted almost because of the increasing strength of your voices,” Trudeau said in an address on Sunday.

“We are seeing a backlash … We have to ask ourselves what kind of country we are, what kind of country we want to be.”

In the video of the incident shared on Twitter late on Friday, Freeland was approaching the lift of a city hall building in Grande Prairie, Alberta, when one man shouted at her.

“What the f*** are you doing in Alberta?” the man said as Freeland walked towards and into the lift. He also called her a “traitor” and a “f***ing b***h.” The video had hundreds of thousands of views.

Freeland was born in Alberta and was on a tour of the province to meet officials, business owners and workers.