“They want to cut off his head.”
That’s the subject line of a new fundraising email that landed in the inboxes of Progressive Conservative supporters on Tuesday as the party looked to turn a gruesome act of protest into a plea for donations.
During a May Day demonstration on the grounds of Queen’s Park last week, a group of protesters unveiled a mock guillotine painted with fake blood alongside a sign that read “may history repeat itself, chop chop!”
The act was widely seen as being aimed at Premier Doug Ford and was swiftly condemned by Social Services Minister Lisa MacLeod as “disgusting” and “sick.”
However, days after the incident the party turned the demonstration into fundraising fodder, asking party members in an email, sent on behalf of MacLeod, to “show your support for Doug” by pitching in a $1 donation.
“This is serious,” the email reads. “Protesters showed up last week at Queen’s Park waving communist flags. And they brought out a guillotine. Yup. A guillotine.”
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath says she doesn’t think it’s “appropriate” to ask for donations based on actions which the government has condemned.
“You can’t on the one hand say these things are odious and then use them for your own fundraising purposes,” Horwath told reporters after Question Period.
CTV News Toronto has requested interviews with MacLeod and PC Party President Brian Patterson about the fundraising email. MacLeod’s office says she is unavailable, while Patterson has yet to respond.
Peter Bethlenfalvy, President of the Treasury Board, says that while the party is “following the rules” on fundraising, the content of this particular email “doesn’t sound like the way to go.”
No investigation underway into protest
After learning of the protest, government officials quickly referred the matter to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and asked for an investigation into the implied threat the guillotine posed.
However, after reviewing the matter, the OPP determined that the protest was out of their jurisdiction and contacted Toronto police about the complaint.
Toronto police say that while they received a notification from the OPP, no formal complaint has been received from the government and there is no active investigation underway.
A spokesperson for the Premier’s Office confirmed to CTV News Toronto that the government is “not planning on referring further.” No reason was provided for this decision.
