'Say it to my face': Singh confronts heckling protester on Parliament Hill

CTV National News: Safety of leaders questioned Rachel Aiello reports on renewed concerns for elected officials after an altercation between the NDP's leader and an aggressive heckler.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh confronted a protester for calling him a “corrupted bastard” on Parliament Hill on Tuesday.

A video of the verbal altercation is gaining considerable traction online. The original video, along with copies and shares, has racked up several hundred thousand views in just a few hours.

In the video posted to YouTube, a protestor can be heard insulting Singh, before the NDP leader approaches and challenges him, and asks if he “has something to say.”

“You’re a coward if you’re not going to say it to my face,” Singh tells the protestor.

Two protestors, who were also filming Singh at the time, deny throwing the insult his way, despite it being audible in the video.

After one protestor insists he would “admit it” if he were the one who “said something like that,” Singh says “alright,” and walks away.

Singh’s office confirmed to CTV News the incident happened on Tuesday, MPs’ second day back in Ottawa since June.

“A large group gathered at Ottawa’s Parliament Building has been intimidating, filming and harassing staff, pedestrians, journalists and even visitors—some of whom are here because they have survived terrible trauma and have come to share their story with lawmakers,” said an NDP spokesperson in a statement emailed to CTV News. “Jagmeet Singh does not tolerate bullies and does not condone violence.”

Several MPs commented on the incident raising concerns about safety for politicians and public figures, after clips started circulating on social media.

“We have the leaders of a national party stepping out in a parking lot on Parliament Hill and facing a confrontation, and having to be there by himself while security stands and watches him,” said NDP MP Charlie Angus. “We're dealing right now with an increasingly dangerous and toxic mix for politicians of all stripes.”

Angus goes on to call it an “absolute disgrace” that Parliament Hill security can be seen standing by in the video without intervening. CTV News has asked the Parliamentary Protective Service for comment.

“I've been at this over 20 years, I've seen crowds that have been angry about an issue, but I've seen a general respect for the political process,” Angus also says. “The kind of threats that I've received in the last two years are something I never would have imagined people in Canada would even think to say, and the fact that it's getting closer and closer all the time, someone is going to get hurt.”

Liberal MP Pam Damoff, who announced last May she won’t run again in the next federal election because of the level of toxicity in politics, said she’s “not overly comfortable crossing the street” considering how close protestors are able to get to MPs.

“Mr. Singh is a bit of a lightning rod because he's recognizable, and there's so much rhetoric about the Liberals and the NDP, I find it really scary, and I worry that something is going to happen to people, to a politician here in Canada,” Damoff said, after referencing the two previous assassination attempts on former U.S. president Donald Trump.

There has been an increase in protesters demonstrating outside Parliament Hill coinciding with the kick-off to the fall sitting of Parliament, many donning F*ck Trudeau flags and other signs echoing messages that were front and centre during the Freedom Convoy.

Tuesday’s incident is not the first time Singh has been insulted by hecklers and protestors, or the first time he’s confronted them.

Last August, he was quick to clap back at a drive-by heckler, inviting the man to "have a conversation" with him instead of shouting expletives out his car window.

Singh had been speaking about high food prices outside a grocery store in Newfoundland when a man in a black car pulled up next to him in the parking lot and shouted an expletive of a sexual nature about Singh and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

And a year before that, in May, Singh received a barrage of insults as he exited a campaign rally for a provincial election candidate, who was running in the Peterborough – Kawartha riding, in Ontario.

Several protesters yelled expletives at the NDP leader and called him a “traitor” as he made his way to his car.

With files from CTV News National Correspondent Rachel Aiello and CTV’s Question Period Senior Producer Brennan MacDonald