The Lloydminster RCMP says there is a difference between making a threat from a legal sense to just being angry.
Late last week a Leduc man was arrested for uttering threats against Prime Minister Trudeau and Alberta Premier Rachel Notley. He is expected to appear in Leduc provincial Court next Thursday.
While Constable Grant Kirizinger couldn’t comment on the specifics of this case, he says that there is a difference that makes something a threat in the eyes of the law.
“The Criminal Code says that anyone who commits this offense is someone who knowingly utters or causes or conveys the other person to receive a threat. So it doesn’t specifically have to be about what is going to happen, it’s that that person knowingly utters a threat and the other person receives it that way.”
Kirzinger adds that there are steps the police take to determine whether something someone says is an actual threat.
“During an investigation there’s a whole bunch of things that you take into account. The totality of the situation. It’s not necessarily just one isolated word or group of words, everything is part of that investigation. The intent, the situation, the people involved. It’s a very complex situation.”
Someone who is suspected to have actually uttered a threat could face up to five years in jail if convicted.