In the News

Minister threatened; Man charged after threats made at Community Services office

The Chronicle-Herald
NovaScotia, Thursday, March 6, 2008, p. B1

Our Staff

The children of Community Services Minister Judy Streatch first learned from news reports Wednesday that someone had threatened to kill their mother.

"They were very good when I discussed it with them," the Chester-St. Margarets MLA said of her four children.

She told them that "I wasn't in any danger. But you can imagine for teenagers who know that their mother is in the newspaper and know that their mother is in public life, it's upsetting."

Halifax Regional Police said a man entered the minister's Spring Garden Road offices at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and threatened Ms. Streatch's life.

The man left the building and was arrested at about 10:20 p.m.

Gary John Dixon, 47, of Raymoor Drive in Dartmouth made a brief appearance Wednesday afternoon in Halifax provincial court.

Charged with uttering threats, Mr. Dixon, who has three criminal convictions from 1997, was released on a $1,000 recognizance and numerous conditions, including that he have no contact with Ms. Streatch and commissionaires Marc Perron and Murray Bauer.

Mr. Dixon, who is accused of making threatening remarks to the commissionaires against Ms. Streatch, is scheduled to return to court April 21 to enter a plea.

Ms. Streatch wasn't in the building at the time of the alleged offence, but characterized it as a "direct threat."

"It is scary. It is disturbing. I won't lie to you - it is quite unnerving," she said.

But it's not as frightening as the first threat on her life, she told The Chronicle Herald.

That happened shortly after she was appointed to handle the Community Services portfolio, she said. She would only say that the case was "properly handled by police" and that "it was resolved."

"I think, unfortunately, Community Services is the one department in government where people find themselves in situations where they are desperate or they do find themselves at their wit's end," she said.

"I certainly don't know the particulars of this individual case, but I do know that this department tends to have more drama and tends to have more interaction than other departments do."

Ms. Streatch has a large family, including brother, Steve Streatch, who is a regional councillor, and father, Ken, who is a former provincial cabinet minister. She is also engaged to federal Tory MP Gerald Keddy, who has two sons.

Despite the family's often-public profile, she said: "It's hard for everybody to accept that those types of things happen."

There are no plans to change her routine or the safety procedures at the Spring Garden Road office, she said, and commended the "wonderful commissionaires" who handled the situation "expertly."

Security for MLAs is handled by RCMP, and provincial Justice Minister Cecil Clarke said that each situation is evaluated on a "case-by-case basis."

"None of us want to go out and be flanked by security," he said.

In 2004, former Tory Premier John Hamm was the subject of repeated threats by a man who also threatened to kill then-prime minister Paul Martin and U.S. President George W. Bush.

Last year, about 44 protestors chanted and banged on the doors and walls of the Forties Community Centre near New Ross during the annual general meeting of Ms. Streatch's riding association.

Although Mounties were at the centre as a precaution, one protester did get in briefly. No charges were laid, and the group eventually left, this newspaper reported.

Ms. Streatch said she hopes these kinds of situations don't discourage people from entering public life.

"This will not slow me down from doing the job Nova Scotians elected me to do," she said.

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