Premier Christine Fréchette called on elected officials Thursday to remain “vigilant” because “threats are coming from all sides.”
She was responding to alarming data from the National Assembly released Tuesday during a parliamentary committee hearing regarding the safety of members of the Assembly.
Parliamentary security handled 668 cases in 2025–26 compared to 498 the previous year — a 34 per cent increase, according to statistics cited by Chair Nathalie Roy.
The cases come from constituency offices and may involve, for example, “threats or acts of vandalism,” officials noted.
Of the 668 cases, just under half — 296 — were classified as “cases of interest,” meaning they were deemed “serious” by law enforcement and may lead to criminal investigations. This represents a 27 per cent increase in “cases of interest” compared to the previous year.
“Threats come from all sides — both online and in the places we visit — so we must be very vigilant and make safety our top priority,” the premier said at a press conference held on the sidelines of an announcement at La Malbaie Hospital in Charlevoix on Thursday.
According to her, this justifies the extensive security detail surrounding her, and she took the opportunity at the same time to pay tribute to her bodyguards.
“Threats take different forms, often more insidious ones,” and are growing in scale, she added, assuring that she makes this a priority. This is why she created the new Ministry of Internal Security, she explained.
Fréchette did not elaborate, however, on the reasons behind the rise in threats targeting elected officials.
–This report by La Presse Canadienne was translated by CityNews
