For the second time in a week, Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau has had a campaign event disrupted by protesters shouting obscenities, uttering death threats against the prime minister and hurling racist and misogynist insults at people of colour and women in his protective detail.
While making a stump speech to promote his party’s climate change policies in Cambridge, Ont., Sunday morning, the Liberals were forced to delay Trudeau’s appearance for an hour because of the disruptions.
Signs brandished by angry protesters displayed slogans such as “Who benefits from the lock down?” and the “Liberals ruined the country,” with one protester shouting through a megaphone decked out with the name; “InfoWars,” a U.S.-based far-right conspiracy theory website.
When the event did start, it was disrupted by honking horns and foul and threatening language hurled from a crowd of people — almost all of whom were unmasked and were not maintaining physical distance from one another.
Asked if he felt he could continue to hold campaign events safely, Trudeau said his message on climate change and vaccination was not one he would walk away from.
“No, I’m not going to back down on a message that Canadians know is the right path forward, and that’s why Canadians need to choose to move Canada forward in this pivotal time,” Trudeau said.
CBC News was present when a protester shouted a racist remark at a police officer of colour on Trudeau’s protective detail, while another protester was heard making misogynist remarks to a female police officer on the detail.
“First of all, I want to thank the police officers, local and national, who do an amazing job in both keeping people safe and allowing Canadians to express themselves,” Trudeau said. “That is what an election is all about. We may disagree with them, and of course, we will always condemn violence and hatred.”
“This needs to make us ever more convinced of the importance of the choice in this election. Do we fall into division and hatred and racism and violence, or do we say no.”
On Sunday, the Conservative Party tweeted: “The threatening images and behaviour are disgusting. This needs to stop immediately. Canada is better than this.”
Angry crowds disrupt another Trudeau campaign event
5 hours ago
An angry crowd of protesters delayed a campaign stop for Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau in Ontario, days after a rally was cancelled over security concerns. Disagreements on the campaign trail aren’t uncommon, but political watchers say these events have reached a new level of nastiness. 3:09
Trudeau has been dogged by protesters at many of his campaign events. He was forced to cancel a campaign event in Bolton, Ont., Friday night when hundreds of angry protesters showed up at the Liberals’ outdoor rally.
Among the protesters of Friday were anti-vaccination activists who shouted vulgarities at Liberal volunteers and carried anti-Trudeau signs and flags scrawled with obscenities. The crowd was frustrated with Trudeau’s push to make vaccines mandatory in some settings and his support for provincial vaccine passports to restrict entry into some non-essential businesses.
Video footage from the event shows a handful of people with blue Conservative-branded T-shirts among the unmasked crowd assembled for the protest, which also included a strong contingent of people angry over the federal government’s ban on flavours in smoking cessation devices, such as e-cigarettes.
Conservatives ban protesters from volunteering
In response to the behaviour, Conservative candidate Kyle Seeback said that the volunteers from his campaign who attended the protest are no longer welcome on his campaign team.
“My campaign has zero-tolerance for obscenities or threatening behaviour against any candidate,” Seeback said.
Speaking at an event in Fredericton on Saturday, Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole said he is trying to run a positive campaign, and he “strongly condemns any form of harassment” on the campaign trail.
“We should be having a healthy and respectful debate. We have no time for people who bring negativity to campaigning. I urge everyone to put the country and our democracy first — let’s have a positive debate of ideas on the future. That’s my approach, and that’s my expectation for every single member of our team,” he said.
“I expect professionalism, I expect respect. I respect my opponents.”
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On Sunday evening, O’Toole issued a news release stating that anyone who does not support his party’s plan to tackle climate change would not be welcome in the caucus.
“If there are candidates who don’t support it — or any other part of Canada’s Recovery Plan — they won’t be sitting in the caucus of a future Conservative government,” he said.
The statement came just hours after Trudeau called out O’Toole during an event in Cambridge, Ont. for, in his words, not doing enough to condemn “conspiracy theories” from an incumbent Tory candidate.
At a campaign event in Saint-Hyacinthe, Que., earlier in the day, O’Toole was repeatedly pressed about an undated flyer that longtime MP Cheryl Gallant sent before the election to constituents in the eastern Ontario riding of Renfrew–Nipissing–Pembroke.
In the materials, she suggested federal Liberals would pursue a “climate lockdown” and said her constituents should make the upcoming election “a referendum on more lockdowns.”
Tories need to crack down on conspiracy theories: Trudeau
Gallant also released a video in June in which she asked: “How long do you think it will take for the Trudeau Liberals to start calling for a climate lockdown?”
Liberals shared a screenshot of Gallant’s flyer online Sunday, prompting the Conservative Party to allege that the Liberals have candidates who support “9/11 truther conspiracies.”
In a tweet, the party highlighted a 2011 tweet from Toronto Centre Liberal incumbent Marci Ien, in which she said “Loose Change 9-11: An American Coup,” a 9/11 conspiracy theory documentary, “really makes you think about what really happened on September 11, 2001.”
The tweet came to light in the Toronto Centre byelection last October. Ien, a former journalist, tweeted at the time: “I’ve spoken often with the families of 9/11 victims and shared their stories as a broadcaster — and I’ll also do everything I can as an MP… to help keep Canadians safe from all such tragedies.”
O’Toole wouldn’t tell reporters if he found Gallant’s comments acceptable and instead pivoted to promoting his platform, which includes a plan to fight climate change.
“We’re running on a plan to get our country back on its feet, not on things that happened months or years ago,” he said.
Shortly after O’Toole’s statement was released threatening to turf people from caucus if they didn’t support the Conservative climate plan, Gallant tweeted that she is proud to run on the Conservatives’ recovery plan platform “in its entirety.”
I’m proud to run on Canada’s Recovery Plan, in its entirety.
Conservative campaign spokesperson Cory Hann said party officials spoke with Gallant Sunday about the views she expressed in the video and that she removed them as a result of that conversation. Gallant posted the tweet after the party asked her to publicly confirm her support for the party platform, he said.
Asked about Gallant earlier Sunday, Trudeau said it was “extremely disappointing” to see elected politicians “peddle in conspiracy theories.”
“It’s not enough for leaders like Erin O’Toole to simply distance themselves from those comments. He has to flat-out condemn them and then correct the record,” he said.
Drawing a link to the aggressive protests outside of his event, Trudeau said the Conservative leader can help people “shouting out here today” understand they are misinformed on matters such as climate change and vaccines.
“We know they don’t listen to me. Perhaps they will listen to Erin O’Toole,” he said. “That’s the choice that Erin O’Toole needs to make right now around Cheryl Gallant and all of these conspiracy theories being peddled.”
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.
Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.
A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”
Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.
“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.
In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”
“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”
Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.
Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.
Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.
“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.
“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.
“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”
Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.
“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”
NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”
“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.
Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.
She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.
Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.
Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.
The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.
HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.
Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.
“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.
“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”
The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.
In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.
“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”
In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.
“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”
Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.
Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.
“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”
In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.
In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.
“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”
Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.
“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”
The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.
“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.
Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.
“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
