Man grabbed by RCMP after running at Stephen Harper in Surrey

SURREY (NEWS 1130)  – A man ran towards Stephen Harper during a rally in Surrey Thursday evening and was grabbed by RCMP officers before being taken away.

The incident came minutes after another protester at the Conservative event attended by many members of the South Asian community stood up with a sign reading “Climate Justice” before being taken away.

A third person who stood up to shout was also taken out of the hall where about 300 people were attending the speech by Harper.

Harper was in the midst of a speech he has given multiple times this week, suggesting opposition parties would pose risks to the economy with deficits and overspending if elected.

The man ran towards Harper just as he was saying the Liberals and NDP would harm the economy.

“They (the Liberals and the NDP) would significantly raise those risks, friends,” he said, as the man bolted across the open circle at the centre of the gathering.

“A lot more than that,” Harper added calmly as the man was taken away and detained.

When another protester interrupted, Harper said, “let me finish,” and seconds later the woman was ejected.

“Friends, you know they’re worried when they don’t come to their rallies and they come to ours instead,” Harper said as the woman was led out.

Later, Kaschelle Thiessen with the group 350Vancouver explained to NEWS 1130 what they were trying to accomplish.

“What we wanted to do is get climate change and environmental issues into the debate. We feel the election issues right now have been focussed on distracting news items. They’re not attacking the real issue.”

She says all parties should take note.

“None of our leaders have taken climate change seriously. As we lead up to talks in Paris in December, no one has taken a strong, definitive stance on how the country will address climate change.”