P.E.I. Green MLA says death threat left on her vehicle

Charlottetown Police are investigating after MLA Hannah Bell says she received what she calls a death threat after the close of the legislature Tuesday night.

Bell said she found a note on the window of her vehicle. She said there were parts in the note she would not repeat, but that the message was "shut up or we'll make sure you do."

Charlottetown police say they have no suspects, but hope to obtain video surveillance to review. Bell said police consider it "a threat with intent."

The MLA said she believes the note was in response to comments she made at an event last week that were posted online by another MLA.

Comments taken 'out of context'

However, on Thursday Bell told the legislative assembly the words were taken out of context.

PC MLA Darlene Compton created a post on her Facebook page about an event last Friday attended by all five women who sit in the P.E.I. legislature.

In the post, Compton quoted Bell as telling a group of women considering running for office that the reason more women need to get involved in politics "is so the legislature is not full of mediocre white men."

"Such alienating and divisive comments help no one," Compton wrote in her post. "We cannot propel women forward by denigrating any other segment of our civilization."

Bell said the phrase "mediocre white men" refers to a research study by the Harvard Business Review and that the comment she made did not specifically refer to other members of the P.E.I. Legislature. She said her actual comment was "you are all here because you don't want to see continually that decisions are being made by mediocre white men."

But in a statement in the house Thursday, Bell apologized to the members of the legislative assembly.

Facebook post led to "sexist, hateful comments"

"I realize that I expressed myself poorly, and I regret any hurt my remarks may have caused," she said.

However, she said that once Compton quoted the comment online, it created "a space where truly sexist and hateful comments are flourishing."

Compton's post had generated nearly 50 comments by late Thursday night. Some comments were in support of Bell, but others referred to her remarks as "sexist hate speech." Another suggested women are not wanted as political leaders.

Bell said she doesn't take issue with Compton creating the post, but told reporters "when you see it beginning to spiral into hurtful and violent comments, then you have to make some decisions about how you manage that conversation. That's where the responsibility comes in."

"Within 48 hours of that… I had a death threat left on my car."

I really didn't want the impression to be left that that's how we feel.— Darlene Compton

Compton said no MLA should have to deal with that. "We open ourselves up to criticism but it should stop there," she said.

She also said she didn't see any comments in the thread which appeared threatening.

And she said she stood by her post and the words she attributed to Bell, while saying ultimately the context didn't matter.

"We were in a room full of females who were possibly interested in running for some type of office," she said.

"I really didn't want the impression to be left that that's how we feel. That you can raise people up by putting other people down."

Not the first threats received

Bell said she began receiving threats as soon as she was elected, but previous threats have been "less clear" than this one.

She said the party has previously had a panic button installed in its office in the basement of the Coles Building. She said she cannot meet one-on-one with constituents in private if she doesn't know them.

"This is not OK as a reality for women in politics," she said.

"I don't want this to be a reason that a woman would not choose to do this, but I can't not tell the truth that this is what happens.

"I really didn't say anything that was going to change anybody's life. ...How are we ever going to get more women to come and do this if this is what they think is going to happen?"

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