NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was confronted on Parliament Hill on Tuesday by a protester who called him a “corrupt bastard.”
The video of the altercation has garnered a lot of attention online, with the original video racking up hundreds of thousands of views, copies and shares in just a few hours.
In a video posted to YouTube, a protester can be heard yelling insults at Singh before the NDP leader approaches and challenges him, asking “is there something you want to say?”
“If you don’t say it to my face, you’re a coward,” Singh told the protesters.
The two protesters who were filming Singh at the time deny hurling insults at him, even though the words were recorded on video.
When one protester insisted that he “acknowledged” if he “said that”, Singh replied “I get it” and walked away.
Singh’s office confirmed to CTV News that the incident occurred on Tuesday, the MPs’ second day back in Ottawa since June.
“Large groups have gathered at Parliament Hill in Ottawa to intimidate, film and harass staff, passers-by, journalists and even visitors – some of whom have survived terrible trauma and are here to share their stories with MPs,” an NDP spokesperson said in a statement to CTV News. “Jagmeet Singh does not tolerate bullying and will not tolerate violence.”
As footage of the incident began circulating on social media, several MPs commented on growing concerns for the safety of politicians and public figures.
“Leaders of Parliament have had to come out and face confrontations in the Parliament House car park, and be there alone while security stand and watch,” New Democrat MP Charlie Angus said. “We’re now facing an increasingly dangerous and harmful situation for all politicians.”
Angus also said it was “an utter disgrace” that Capitol Security officers were seen on video not intervening. CTV News has reached out to the Capitol Security Service for comment.
“I’ve been in this job for over 20 years, and I’ve seen crowds that are upset about certain issues, but I’ve also seen a general respect for the political process,” Angus said. “The threats I’ve received over the last two years are things I never thought Canadians would utter, and it’s getting closer and closer and someone is going to get hurt.”
Liberal MP Pam Damoff, who announced last May she would not stand in the next federal election because of what she called vicious politics, said she was “not very comfortable crossing the road” given how close protesters could get to MPs.
“Singh is a bit of a lightning rod because of his high profile. There’s so much rhetoric about the Liberal party and the New Democrats. It’s really scary. I’m scared that something is going to happen to our people, to our politicians here in Canada,” Damoff said, after referring to two previous assassination attempts on former U.S. President Donald Trump.
A growing number of protesters have been demonstrating outside Parliament House as the autumn session of Parliament begins, many of them carrying “F*ck Trudeau” flags and other signs that reflect messages central to the Freedom Convoy.
Tuesday’s incident was not the first time Singh had been insulted by onlookers and protesters, nor was it the first time he had confronted them.
Last August, he quickly slapped back at a bystander who was yelling abuse at him from his car window, and instead of shouting abuse out of his car window, he invited him to “have a conversation.”
Singh was speaking outside a grocery store in Newfoundland about rising food prices when a man in a black car pulled up next to him in the parking lot and yelled sexually-charged epithets at him and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
And a year earlier, in May, Singh was subjected to a barrage of insults as he emerged from a rally for his provincial election candidate in the Peterborough-Kawartha electoral district, Ont.
Several protesters yelled abuse at the NDP leader, calling him a “traitor” as he headed for his car.
With files from CTV News national correspondent Rachel Aiello and CTV’s Question Period senior producer Brennan MacDonald
