Pie for PM likely means less accessibility

I was in Gravelbourg in the 1974 federal election campaign with Pierre Trudeau, the first French Canadian prime minister to visit that French Canadian town on the southern Prairies.

The gym at College Mathieu was full and after Trudeau’s speech, the crowd surged to the edge of the stage.

Trudeau bent down to shake hands and, in the blink of an eye, was gone. He had jumped into the midst of the crowd and was lost to his RCMP bodyguard.

A host of grown men were seen for the next 30 seconds or so speaking into their lapels.

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The prime minister eventually resurfaced, and was quite all right, thank you, and having the time of his life.

The crowd loved him.

As was evident in Charlottetown last week, protecting a prime minister means walking a fine line between keeping him wrapped in cotton wool and allowing access to the public.

Many callers to radio phone-in shows and talkback numbers found the fact that the prime minister of Canada took a cream pie in the face, if not hilarious, was justified. I disagree. It was embarrassing, demeaning and without dignity.

I was disturbed a couple of years ago when ChrŽtien was in Regina and I covered the event. I walked in, camera around my neck, notebook and pen in pocket and, with no questions asked, was able to walk to the edge of the stage where he was speaking.

Had I been so inclined, I could have reached out and touched the PM.

Why? Because I looked like I belonged.

Anyone, with good intentions or bad, could have done it.

In the ensuing walkabout, he was mobbed and his bodyguard had a hard time keeping close to him.

In a walkabout, anyone can approach, and obviously can approach, carrying something as out of place as a cream pie.

The RCMP bodyguards are often asked to stand back to allow the politician access to the crowds and vice versa.

That makes it easy for people such as last week’s pie thrower to carry out their evil deeds.

We are all prone to say that it can’t happen here, that our society is very different to that of the Americans.

Perhaps.

Or, as the pie-throwing incident has shown, perhaps not. The pie could as easily have been a bullet. A handgun is easier to conceal than a cream pie.

The easy answer is closer security and less access to and by the public. While this would be anathema to Canadian politicians, it may become their choice: accept crowd control and a bodyguard or risk a pie in the face. Or worse.