WATCH ABOVE: The escalating controversy of the Mike Duffy trial is heating up on the campaign trail, as Conservative leader Stephen Harper faces a barrage of media questions at each of his events. At the same time, the Conservative leader’s rivals are breezing through their campaign stops across the country. Jacques Bourbeau reports on the campaign of contrasts.
Conservative leader Stephen Harper had to shush some of his own supporters as they heckled reporters in between questions at an event in Etobicoke, Ont., Tuesday morning.
But the heckling escalated quickly after the event when one Conservative supporter called a reporter and media in general “lying pieces of s—t.”
“Because you’re a lying piece of s–t, yeah, and you too. You’re making an issue out of Duffy. He’s a nothing. Harper has produced good government. It’s nothing. It’s nothing,” the man said, while wearing a beige suit with a Doug Ford pin on his lapel.
“I think you’re a piece of lying s–t, and your media with you.”
He told reporters to “go stuff yourself” when they asked his name.
The confrontation came after Harper’s event when he was asked repeatedly about the ongoing Mike Duffy scandal, and not his announcement about limiting probation for convicted killers.
READ MORE: Nigel Wright says he doesn’t think he lied to the prime minister about Duffy
Harper said Nigel Wright and Duffy are “being held fully accountable for their actions” when he was asked another question about Duffy. Some of his supporters took exception to that.
“Ask questions on the topic at hand,” one shouted.
WATCH: A Stephen Harper supporter sounded off to various members of the news media during a campaign event in the GTA Tuesday, calling a reporter a “lying piece of s–t” and saying the Mike Duffy scandal amounts to “zero.”
“What about seniors. You have not addressed seniors,” another shouted.
The Conservative leader was forced to shush his more raucous supporters, putting his hands up and telling them it was “ok” and telling a CBC reporter to “go ahead” when she was interrupted.
Harper has been dogged by questions about the Duffy trial since it restarted in Ottawa last week, with many questions focused on that instead of the campaign and policy announcements.
But at least one of his supporters, Carl Burnell, told reporters that he does want to know exactly what Harper knew about the Duffy scandal.
“I want the truth,” he told reporters. “I’ve been a Conservative for 50 years and I won’t vote Conservative anymore until I find the truth.”
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Another man said he’d prefer if reporters focused on bigger issues like the ongoing OPP investigations of the Ontario Liberal government rather than the Duffy affair.
“When I see Liberal corruption and you guys are focused on $90,000,” Steve Milousis said. “Three questions about Mike Duffy, don’t you guys have any other problems?”
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