Peterborough Mayor Calls Protesters Heckling Jagmeet Singh “Violent Behaviour”

A complete non-story that continues to have longevity in the legacy media is federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh’s run-in with protesters heckling him in Peterborough while he was out promoting provincial NDP candidates. 

First off, it is almost trite to point out that if union protesters yelled insults at Conservative leader Candice Bergen or PPC leader Maxime Bernier it would either get next to no coverage or would have been reported as a noble effort to combat “right-wing hate” or some other nonsense.

In the case of Jagmeet Singh, this instance of heckling, although it was rude, is getting played up like it was a physical attack by a mob of rioters. Just look at the comments made by Peterborough Mayor Diane Therrien who labeled what the crowd did by shouting at Singh “violent behaviour” and called on political leaders to condemn the “unacceptable attack.”

In reality, what Mayor Therrien said is far more radical than anything the protesters shouted at Singh at the Peterborough campaign stop. 

She, like many others on the left, is trying to redefine sharp political rhetoric and insults as being “violence,” which clearly implies that somehow yelling at the leader of a major left-wing political party should be illegal, just as it would be to physically strike someone.

Singh himself is someone who spreads actual hate against his political opponents, often implying those who disagree with him are “racist” or “hateful” but someone like Mayor Therrien only sees the public’s response to Singh’s rhetoric as being intolerable. 

What is truly dangerous for society is for demagogues like Jagmeet Singh and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to insult Canadians and assert without evidence they have evil motives, like during the Freedom Convoy protest in Ottawa, and then further smear and potentially criminalize those who respond back to them with equal vitriol. 

It drives a population crazy that they are being insulted by their own elected officials and then treated like radicals when they return the favour. 

The Peterborough Mayor and other representatives of the political left know that what they are doing divides the country, but it seems like because they know they benefit from the division they will keep accusing others of doing what they do and hurting the social fabric of Canada.