Pam Damoff Talks Civility in Politics

The 905er Podcast

At the beginning of May, Pam Damoff, the Liberal MP for Oakville - North Burlington announced that she would be retiring from federal politics at the end of this term. She would not be seeking re-election.

Her reasoning was a common refrain from female politicians across all party lines. The misogynistic and violent threats to her personhood and family had become too great to make the job worth it. While it takes tough skin to make it in politics it's another thing entirely when it becomes impossible to go out in public to grocery shop or run errands because threats are lobbied across aisles.

What does it say about our politics that we consider threats a common part of our civil dialogue now? Where it's no longer satisfactory to simply vote out a politician we disagree with, we must now drive them from office under threats to their person? When political parties use rhetoric to drive support and build up anger in the populace? More important, what happens to that anger if it has nowhere to go?

We asked Pam Damoff to join us today to discuss how she came to this decision in her career, the state of political discourse at the moment in Canada, and where do we go from here.

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