Canada's New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada March 22, 2022, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Lucerne, Switzerland, June 16, 2024 and Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada April 19, 2023 in a combination of file photographs. / REUTERS/Patrick Doyle, Pool, Blair Gable

Tempers flared on Parliament Hill as Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre announced plans to introduce a motion next week to force a vote on the future of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government. This comes amid increasing tensions, highlighted by an incident where NDP leader Jagmeet Singh was heckled in the Parliament's parking lot.

While Conservatives, who had been urging the NDP to collaborate with them in initiating an early election, have distanced themselves from the protesters who targeted Singh, two Liberal ministers have claimed that the main Opposition party has provided support to the demonstrators.

According to the latest polls placing them at the forefront, the Conservatives are eager to push for an election at the earliest opportunity to leverage their present popularity. Amid talk of an early election, the third largest party in the House of Commons, Bloc Québécois, has indicated it would not support the no-confidence move.

Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-François Blanchet said that his party would vote against a Conservative non-confidence motion due to be tabled next week — giving Trudeau's Liberal government enough votes to stay in power and avoid an imminent election.

With Bloc Quebecois support, Liberals may be comfortable even without its earlier support and confidence partner NDP to see the fall session of the Parliament through.

Interestingly, the Liberals have also cautioned their workers and supporters to be prepared for an election that can be announced next week; the focus and discussions shifted to a video that went viral on Sept. 17.

The video posted on X, shows at least two protesters tailing Singh in a parking lot. One asks him whether he would support a motion of non-confidence against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. As the NDP leader continues walking, someone within earshot labels him "corrupted' in a derogatory manner.

Singh turned around and confronted the two men, asking who had hurled the insult. They denied remarking and appeared to back off. It prompted Jagmeet Singh to call one of them a "coward" for not saying it to his face.

Posting on X about the incident, Singh wrote, "For days now, bullies in Ottawa have been spewing hate and harassing Canadians who disagree with them. An Indigenous woman is being called a Nazi. Staff being harassed. Journalists being yelled at. That's the country Pierre Poilievre wants. Me? I believe everyone should feel safe walking our streets."

Singh also posted a statement about the encounter on his personal X account and slammed the recent behaviour of "bullies" in the capital. "I believe we need to stand up to bullies and shut down hate," he said.

"As much as I was proud of Jagmeet for standing up to this guy, it should not have gotten to that. There is a bunch of knuckleheads walking around the Hill with their agenda,"  Immigration Minister Marc Miller said. Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault joined him to applaud Singh for defending himself and decrying the harassment purported by the protesters.

Marc Miller went a step further  to accuse Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of playing "footsies" with the group of protesters and called on him to "repudiate" the harassment by "people that support him."

The two liberal ministers also mentioned the name of  Conservative MP Michael Cooper for socializing with the same group of protesters who have been camping outside Parliament Hill. Michael Cooper, however,  denied his association with the protesters and said in a statement that he was approached by them while having dinner.

"I went to a restaurant in Ottawa to have dinner. At the restaurant, I was recognized by a group of people who approached me and took photos. I am in no way associated with these individuals and was not meeting with them," Cooper said.

Federal politicians complain of intense public harassment

Protesters gathered outside Parliament have been "intimidating" and "harassing" politicians, their staff and others, claimed an NDP spokesperson, holding  "Jagmeet Singh does not tolerate bullies and does not condone violence."

Several NDP MPs have come out in support of their leader.

NDP MP Charlie Angus called the encounter between the protesters and Singh a "national disgrace" saying, "A national leader was left by himself to defend himself when security just stood around and watched."

"We are dealing right now with an increasingly dangerous and toxic mix for politicians of all stripes," Angus said. "Somebody is going to get hurt."

Alexandre Boulerice, NDP MP for Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie in Montreal, said that threatening behaviour has become a problem both on the Hill and at MP's offices.

He related a recent incident about fellow NDP MP Leah Gazan representing  Winnipeg Centre. In an online post on Sept. 13, she said that someone had thrown bricks through the windows of her constituency office twice in the previous two weeks.

"We are lucky that only glass was broken and no one was hurt," Gazan wrote on Facebook.

In July, Immigration Minister Marc Miller's constituency office was allegedly defaced as unknown vandals painted the words, "Marc Miller, child killer," on the building and sidewalk.