Trudeau struck as protesters throw gravel in London
LONDON, ONT. • Tensions on Justin Trudeau’s campaign trail flared in London, Ont., on Monday night when the Liberal leader was struck with a handful of gravel thrown from a crowd of protesters.
About 100 protesters, many wearing the purple of the People’s Party of Canada and carrying signs, gathered outside London Brewing Co-op where Trudeau had stopped for a brief appearance inside with local Liberal candidates.
As he stepped back into the campaign bus, someone threw a handful of small rocks that appeared to hit him. Trudeau glanced back, looking startled. A national CTV reporter said two members of the media were also hit, and unhurt.
Later, on the campaign plane, Trudeau confirmed to reporters that he had been hit by gravel but said he was fine. He compared it to the time pumpkin seeds were thrown at him.
Conservative Leader Erin O’toole called the incident disgusting.
“Political violence is never justified and our media must be free from intimidation, harassment, and violence,” O’toole said on twitter.
Earlier in the day, Trudeau went after his main rival for waffling on gun control and vaccine mandates.
O’toole “will say anything to try and get elected,” Trudeau told supporters at a campaign event in southern Ontario. “That’s not leadership. That’s not integrity.”
Sunday, O’toole scrapped a campaign promise to eliminate a ban on some assault weapons. The promise appears in the party’s platform and says the Conservatives would reverse a 2020 ban on 11 kinds of assault weapons, including those used in a number of mass shootings. O’toole previously said the restrictions unfairly penalized hunters and farmers.
“I want to make my position on firearms perfectly clear,” O’toole told reporters in Vancouver. “The present ban on a number of ... firearms that were reclassified in 2020 will remain in place.”
Instead of scrapping the ban, the Conservatives would launch a public review of how firearms are classified.
O’toole, pressed on the matter, did not explain the shift and accused Trudeau of engaging in American-style politics and “dividing people, pitting East versus West, rural versus urban.”
The Conservatives acted to prevent Trudeau from turning the matter into a wedge issue that could hurt them, said a senior party member, who requested anonymity given the sensitivity of the situation.
After being criticized by O’toole for calling the election two years early during a rising fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trudeau assailed O’toole’s opposition to vaccine mandates, including for his own candidates.
Trudeau said O’toole was pandering to anti-vaxxers just as he had to the gun lobby. Anti-vax hecklers have shouted abuse and even death threats at Trudeau throughout his campaign.
“Erin O’toole is at least taking some of his cues from (the anti-vax crowd),” Trudeau said.
“Canadians are beginning to see that that’s the future being offered by Erin O’toole, a future of wishy-washy, weak leadership where he doesn’t stand up for what he believes in, doesn’t tell Canadians what he actually believes,” he said.
Speaking in Ottawa, O’toole refused to say how many of his candidates had not been inoculated. He has said those who are not vaccinated must be tested daily.
“Our approach, with respect to vaccinations, is we try and encourage and inform and work with people, but we will respect their personal health decisions,” O’toole said.
Liberal strategists have said the crucial period of the campaign starts after Labour Day.