Nadine Wellwood, People's Party of Canada (PPC) candidate for Banff-Airdrie, is standing her ground after she received a threatening email suggesting it would be in her best interest to step away from her candidacy with the PPC.
The email, which indicates it is from a Rob Walker ([email protected]) stated:
"Nadine,
We are watching you. 24/7. We are always around. Antifa is keeping track of you. You need to not run for office for a Nazi Party if you don't want Antifa to pay attention to you.
Do you understand? "
Presumably, the letter is a response to the PPC's platform promise to limit immigration coming into Canada and its stance against the nation's policies on multiculturalism, which it calls divisive.
Wellwood said the threatening correspondence was the second part of an odd evening on Saturday.
"We were out doing debate prep at one of our campaign team's homes and we were driving back at 9:45ish (p.m.)," she recalled.
On the way, the vehicle they were driving was pulled over by RCMP, which struck Wellwood as odd since she wasn't speeding.
She was told by the officer that they were responding to a report of a middle-aged man driving drunk in a large Dodge Ram, which fit the description of Wellwood's partner Jason and their vehicle, but Jason wasn't driving.
"That's an interesting coincidence," she said, suggesting the same person who wrote the letter called the false claim into the RCMP.
Though the incidents are concerning, Wellwood said she is not backing down.
"I have never tolerated the bully in the schoolyard," said Wellwood, adding its disappointing that people are overtly trying to undermine the democratic process.
"These extreme organizations are using bullying tactics and threatening good, honest people," she said. 'This is how far people are willing to go to silence people.
"I've been stalked before and it is unsettling."
Though Wellwood isn't flinching from the letter, she did admit it is concerning considering she has a family and she has heard of two other female candidates with the PPC who have received similar threats. She adds it's interesting the candidates that have been targeted so far are only women.
Erika Traub, a PPC candidate in Waterloo, also posted on Facebook that she received a similar threatening letter.
You can view Wellwood's YouTube response to the letter here.
Update:
Cochrane Today reached out to the address that sent the harassing email to Wellwood and received the following response (it is posted unedited):
"I regret sending the email. I reject PPC politics utterly. Not the right strategy.