(Ottawa) Liberal MP and former Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino was spat on by a man on an Ottawa pedestrian street, a stone’s throw from Parliament Hill.
” Damn it ! That doesn’t seem very nice,” reacted the Toronto elected official after apparently being sprayed with spit from a man to whom he had just held out his hand to shake.
The incident was filmed and relayed on the Reddit network. English-language media CityNews first reported its existence.
The individual approaching Marco Mendicino is wearing a “Save Canada” cap, an organization that has ties to the “freedom convoy” groups that occupied the federal capital in the winter of 2022.
The video shows an officer from the Parliamentary Protective Service (PPS) intervene with the man afterwards.
“Why are you spitting on our deputies? », asks the agent.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to,” the man replied, then turned back to apologize to Marco Mendicino.
“I’m sorry, I’m… I’m frustrated because… I’m just very angry,” he also explains to the MP.
The latter did not want to give more details about the incident.
“I cannot comment because the investigation is ongoing,” he wrote in an email to La Presse on Friday.
Ottawa police are not on the case, according to a spokesperson for the police force on Friday.
It therefore seems that the matter is in the hands of the SPP.
“The safety of MPs located outside the boundaries of the Parliamentary Precinct is an issue that may involve various parties depending on the jurisdiction,” we wrote on Friday.
“Our top priority remains the security of the parliamentary community and we are working closely with our partners […] to be ready to face any eventuality,” it was added.
The incident occurred on Wednesday, June 19, according to Marco Mendicino’s office, and not June 21, as the video posted on Reddit appears to indicate.
Acts of hatred, harassment and intimidation against elected representatives of the House of Commons have exploded in recent years.
“It’s mostly online harassment, but there have been instances of in-person harassment as well,” Sergeant-at-Arms Patrick McDonell testified before a Commons committee in May.
The increase is “of the order of 700 to 800%,” he said.
