GUYSBOROUGH – A suspicious package has been found in the mail for Guysborough-Tracadie MLA Greg Morrow’s constituency office.
The provincial agriculture minister is the most recent MLA or Member of Parliament (MP) in Nova Scotia who has received something of that nature over the past three weeks.
Last week, this newspaper reported that such a package was delivered to Cape Breton-Canso MP Mike Kelloway’s constituency office in Dominion.
Charla Cosgrove, Morrow’s constituency assistant, picked up the mail at the Guysborough Post Office on Feb. 17. As she sorted through the bundle in the foyer of the building, she noticed an envelope that fit the description of suspicious mail delivered to elected officials in the province this month.
Postal employees supplied her with a plastic bag, in which Cosgrove put the envelope. She then called police who arrived shortly after to take possession of the item.
Morrow spoke to The Journal about the incident on the following day (Feb. 18).
He said his office was on the lookout for that type of envelope, one with no return address,
“We know that it is becoming a bit more common. We had heard this week of some other MLAs in the province that had received them… I’ve heard of PCs and Liberals, for sure, and I’m pretty sure I heard of an NDP as well, so they’re coming in to all elected officials, regardless of party stripe.
“It’s a heated political time right now with everything that is going on and we hear different stuff; I heard a constituent, in public, talking about shooting politicians. It’s a dangerous political time right now. We just want to be able to do our jobs and be safe. We don’t want to see this happening to any politician,” said Morrow.
He noted that he’d read The Journal’s interviews with MPs Kelloway and Sean Fraser last week and agreed with their positions, adding, “You have to take it seriously because you never know. We encourage healthy debate with people of different viewpoints…if you’re not happy with the government, go out to the ballot box and make your voice heard that way. Or reach out in a respectful manner and we can have a conversation. Lots of people reach out to the office, we may not always agree, but we always have a usually good, respectful conversation.”
The Journal requested information from the RCMP on the investigations into the suspicious packages, both in Guysborough and Dominion, but none was available prior to publication.
