Man charged with threats after call to Alberta environment minister

A threatening call made to heroffice last week was unlawful and needs to be treated as such, saysAlberta's environment minister.

"If you utter threats, you are breaking the law," Shannon Phillips told reporters Thursday. "We have seen some really disturbing kind of rhetoric coming off the phonesintheconstituencyofficeand here as well."

MichaelEnrighthas been charged after staff say someone phonedthe minister'soffice and threatened to shoot everyone over the carbon tax.

Enright, an oil products salesman from Camrose, saidhedidn't make any threats and was simply calling to voice hisfrustration over the hurt currently being experienced in hisindustry.

"This was nothing. This was me having a bad day," Enright saidwhen contacted by The Canadian Press on Thursday. "I'm a very calmperson. Everybody knows me as a guy who never gets upset."

Cheryl Sheppard of the Edmonton Police Service said Enright facesone Criminal Code charge of uttering threats.

The call happened a week ago, on March 31, in the middle of theafternoon.

This was nothing. This was me having a bad day.- MichaelEnright

"He was calling to express his anger over the carbon tax," astaffer in Phillips's office told police in a statement.

The staffer told police the caller, who refused to identifyhimself, referred to the minister as a man. When he was remindedPhillips was female, "he told me the NDP only hire people withboobs, not qualified people."

"He then said he was going to get his ammunition and gun andcome here and shoot us all," the statement reads.

Sheppard said Enright was charged later that day with assistancefrom police in Camrose.

Enright said Thursday he has not been in court yet.He denied making any threats.

"No, I didn't say that. I don't have a gun. I don't haveammunition. I didn't say that at all."

'I would never, never,ever threaten anybody'

Enright said he was driving and listening to talk radio hostDanielle Smith, former Opposition Wildrose leader in thelegislature, when he called Phillips's office.

"I'm listening to Danielle Smith talking just one thing afteranother about whatchamacallit the economy and the coal. I've gotfriends who are losing their jobs, and I phoned in," he said.

"I didn't mean to get upset and I did not threaten anybody atall. All I said was that if they (the NDP government) keep pushingpeople, people are going to get guns and they are going to revolt.

"I was talking globally, not specifically. I would never, never,ever threaten anybody. I've never hurt anybody. I don't even have aspeeding ticket."

Enright said the whole thing has been blown out of proportion.

"I feel terrible that the person on the other end actually feltthreatened by me."

He said if he thought it would make amends, he would write theoffice an apology letter and do even more for the female staffmember with whom he spoke on the phone.

"When this is all done, I'm going to send her flowers."

The maximum penalty for uttering threats is five years in prison.None of the accusations has been proven in court.

NDP government target of recent threats

Premier Rachel Notley and other members of her cabinet have beenthe target of threats in recent months. Some people have postedmessages on Facebook and other sites threatening to kill thepremier.

There have been no reports of any charges laid as a result.

The threats spiked last December when Notley's government passedlegislation mandating safety rules on farms and making paid farmworkers eligible for workers' compensation.

Energy Minister Marg McCuaig-Boyd tearfully recounted in thelegislature that she had been harassed and threatened over the farmbill.

Phillips has said on Twitter she gets angry and abusive messagesdaily on social media.

"I've actuallydistancedmyselfa lot from social media because of the level of rhetoric coming from all kinds of people,mostly men," she said.

"That's just a naturalresponseto the overheated hyperbole that seems to have permeated political life. I'll have no part of it."

The carbon tax, set to begin on Jan. 1, is part of aclimate-change plan introduced last November by Phillips and Notley.

The tax, designed to give consumers an incentive to move towardgreener energy alternatives, will increase the cost of everythingfrom gas at the pumps to home heating and electricity.

The province is also moving to shut down all coal-firedelectricity plants by 2030. That has led to concerns about job
losses and a harmful domino effect on communities.