Leafs fan confronts and nearly fights Jagmeet Singh outside Parliament
“You're a coward, you won't even say it to my face!”
I don't know if you've noticed... but international politics are pretty heated these days.
There's division in both Canada and the United States these days, the likes of which I don't think I've ever seen in my 40 years on the planet. People are angry and they're unafraid to have their voices heard, even if it means crossing the line of common courtesy or good taste.
Today, in Canada's capital of Ottawa there were protests from 'Far Right' activists who disturbed an annual Terry Fox rally. In the same way that groups like Antifa or Free Palestine have disrupted parades and rallies in order to have their message heard, this spinoff group of 'Trucker Convoy' activists used Ottawa's Terry Fox rally as a platform to get their message across.
Shortly after shouting, "Traitors!" and "Liars!" to politicians at the event, one of the protestors took things too far with federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh. The man approaches Singh while wearing a backwards Toronto Maple Leafs hat and shouts, "Corrupted Bastard!"
This prompts Singh to immediately spin around and confront the man.
"You wanna say something to me," Singh asks? "You got something to say?"
The man then lowers his head and refuses to own up to his comment.
That's where things get really tense.
Check it out:
C'mon, buddy...
If you're gonna throw chirps around, you've gotta own up to them. You've gotta stand there and take it on the chin. Weaseling out of things is what the politicians do! Don't stoop to their level!
In all seriousness, I kind of hoped that some sort of post-whistle scrum would have broken out here. I'm not talking about a full scale assault, but some pushing and shoving and a face wash or two might have helped clear things up a bit. After all, like in the NHL where the referees stand by to make sure nothing gets out of hand, we have armed police right there in case things go sideways.
Now that I think about it, a good chirp-fest followed by some post-whistle rustling might be what's missing from politics in 2024!