Sandra Jansen was elected to the Alberta Legislative Assembly as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party, but now she sits with the left-leaning New Democratic Party, who took the provincial government is a surprise upset that was driven by a mix of a split in the right (the Conservatives are mired in infighting with the ultra-right Wild Rose Party) and the decline of the oil industry.
Jansen left the Tories over their hard-right turn toward Trumpism, signaled in part by an initiative to subject incoming migrants to "Canadian values" tests that were thinly veiled Islamophobia — the same Islamophobia that cost the Conservatives the national election the last time around.
On Tuesday, Jansen stood in the Legislative Chamber and read aloud a selection of the death threats and misogynist and homophobic slurs she'd received from angry Conservatives who were furious that she left the party. Jansen isn't gay, but many of the messages she received accused her of being in a lesbian relationship with Alberta Premier Rachel Notley.
She called on other Alberta Tories to "be strong and clear" and "oppose it. Don't ignore it. Don't look the other way. Don't excuse it. Our daughters are watching us. They are watching the challenges facing women in politics today. Imagine if we let that poison become normalized or if our daughters forgo the political arena altogether."
"What a traitorous bitch …
"You are both a disgrace to Alberta, lying bitches …
"Now you have two blond bimbos in a party that is clueless …
"Another useless tit goes NDP …
"Dead meat …
"Sandra should stay in the kitchen where she belongs …
'"Fly with the crows and get shot …
"Dumb broad — a good place for her to be is with the rest of the queers."
Braid: Jansen stuns legislature by reading out explicit anti-female slurs
[Don Braid/Calgary Herald]
Alberta MLA Sandra Jansen latest in long string of female politicians to face abuse
[Drew Anderson/CBC]
