The federal election campaign in Essex turned nasty this week when protestors resorted to vulgar name calling during a rally outside incumbent MP Jeff Watson’s office.
Several volunteers for the popular Conservative candidate say they were accosted by protesters who gathered to oppose Canada’s role in new trade-agreement discussions for the Trans Pacific Partnership.
One woman was called a “dirty fat cow,” another heard even harsher words, according to Watson who took to social media blasting the Unifor members who organized the rally.
Watson attended the event, but he didn’t hear about how his volunteers were treated until it was all over.
“There’s a lot of room for dialogue and disagreement on matters of policy, but the flat out mistreatment of volunteers who are women was completely dehumanizing,” he said.
Unifor Local 200 president Chris Taylor didn’t respond to repeated requests for an interview Thursday.
Watson called on his NDP opponent Tracey Ramsey to denounce the behaviour, saying her party receives plenty of support from unions like Unifor.
Several people from his office reported hearing NDP chants from protestors during Wednesday’s rally.
Ramsey didn’t take interviews from The Star. Instead, in a written statement, she distanced herself from the event, saying the rally was not organized by the NDP. She then criticized Watson for using the fallout as a way to attack her party.
“Mr. Watson is intentionally misleading the voters of Essex in order to distract us from the important issues of this campaign,” she wrote.
Even if the event wasn’t endorsed by the NDP, Ramsey should denounce this type of behaviour, Watson said.
He posted several photos of members flipping him and his volunteers the middle finger. One person threw alcohol at a volunteer, Watson alleged, while another threatened physical violence. Watson says he has video footage of the threat.
A protester flips the camera the bird at a protest outside Jeff Watson’s office. (Photo posted by Jeff Watson to Facebook)
The insults began after several of Watson’s volunteers set up a table offering protesters coffee and doughnuts.
“One volunteer of mine asked one gentleman if he wanted coffee and doughnuts. He took them and then called her a dirty fat cow,” Watson said in an interview Thursday. “Uncouth. We don’t need that sort of thing.”
The volunteer he mentioned was Rosemary Bilyea, 75, who says she’s disappointed in the behaviour of protestors.
“I was here to serve coffee and Timbits because they said it was going to be peaceful,” she said in an interview. “If that’s what they call a peaceful demonstration, I sure would hate to see one that wasn’t.”
Bilyea is also concerned for the children who attended the event, including the protestors’ own teenagers who stood alongside their parents.
“What kind of example does that set?” she asked.
Not a good one, according to high school student McKenna Pouget, 15, from LaSalle. She’s keenly interested in the federal election and wanted to hear what protestors and Watson had to say about TPP discussions.
“I have been encouraged by my debate coach to study the current election issues so that I will be prepared to debate about them,” she said. “I was extremely disappointed in the rally and Unifor’s behaviour. I know people who belong to the union and they don’t act like what I saw at the rally.”
Watson arrived at the rally around 7:30 p.m. to make his comments about the TTP. Things got a little heated when one man ran out from behind Unifor president Chris Taylor, stopping in front of Watson and screaming in his face.
But it wasn’t until after the event that volunteers told their candidate how they were treated by the protestors.
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