SASKATOON — Liberal Leader Mark Carney has grown accustomed to
one or two hecklers at every rally
, but in Saskatoon on Wednesday evening, they were interrupting him left and right — quite literally.
Carney was busy telling the 800 or so Liberal supporters present at a modern art museum about the story of a famous portrait of former British prime minister Winston Churchill when he was interrupted by two young men yelling about Canada becoming the United States’ “51st state.”
The two individuals, teenagers barely of voting age, each wore a suit, a tie and shiny black shoes.
Their heckles were rapidly drowned out by the boos of the crowd and the two young men were escorted by security outside the venue.
“We value diversity in this country, unlike the United States of America,” said Carney.
He then went back to his story about Churchill. “Where was I?”
Moments later, Carney would be interrupted again, this time, by pro-Palestine protesters calling the situation in Gaza a “genocide.”
“I heard you, I heard you,” he told them. “You made your point.”
While Carney struggled to remember where he left off, the crowd chanted his name.
The pro-Palestinian protesters, many of them shouting at once, started up again with inaudible heckles.
“I’ve come a long way, these people have waited a long time, and I would like to speak,” said Carney.
A woman attempted to reassure him: “You’re doing great, sweetie!”
Carney continued on with the key points of his speech, speaking about how Canada should fight back against U.S. tariffs and become an energy superpower, with the occasional heckles. Eventually, they faded.
“I actually had a pretty good life about four months ago,” he said, sparking laughs from the crowd.
His speech would end up being much shorter than usual. He thanked the crowd for coming.
Outside the venue, a brief argument broke out between the two young men in suits and a frustrated Liberal supporter.
“You’re the one running back to your abuser after 10 years,” shouted one of the young men.
The Liberal supporter shot back: “How old are you? F–k, you know nothing about life. Absolutely nothing.”
Two of the protesters who were challenging Carney about the situation in Gaza said they were joined by many others from the Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East to challenge the new Liberal leader to do more to help its residents.
“It’s important for elected leaders to know that that’s important to us,” said Milo Coutu, who leans typically more NDP.
“A lot of people who are running haven’t put out firm stances on Palestine, and I think that’s pretty concerning.”
Carney said earlier on Wednesday he was “aware of the situation in Gaza” which he said was “horrible” but fell short of calling it a “genocide.”
Tre Gibson, a self-proclaimed communist who was also protesting at the rally, said he might end up voting for Carney anyways.
“I don’t like Mark Carney very much. I think that he’s better than the Conservatives, for sure,” he said.
“The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Carney has spent most of the past week in Western Canada, in the hopes of picking up seats. He spent most of Wednesday in Calgary before making a brief stop in Saskatoon, and was headed to Toronto late in the evening.
The Liberals are hoping to pick up the Saskatoon West riding, currently held by a Conservative incumbent. In the last two elections, New Democrats finished a few points behind in second place. The collapse of the NDP is opening up an opportunity for Carney’s team.
But NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is not going down without a fight.
On the tarmac at Saskatoon’s airport, the Liberal and NDP planes stood side by side as a sign of the battle to come.
National Post
calevesque@postmedia.com
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