MP critical of 22 Minutes star's post about Parliament Hill shooting
[This picture posted on @CritchMark on Instagram of Mark Critch hiding in a closet in the Conservative caucus room upset MP Michelle Rempel. Photo: @CritchMark/Instagram]
An Instagram post making light of former prime minister Stephen Harper hiding during the Ottawa shooting and lockdown of October 2014 has outraged an Alberta MP.
This Hour has 22 Minutes comedian Mark Critch says he has spoken with Calgary Nose Hill MP Michelle Rempel and things are “all good now” after she took him to task for the post.
On Friday, Critch put up a picture of himself in the closet Harper occupied during the Parliament Hill lockdown in 2014 with the caption, “Stephen Harper stepped down, here is me in his closet.”
The Instagram post didn’t go over well with Rempel.
.@markcritch,I don’t really have words to describe my disgust at this post of yours 1/ pic.twitter.com/6QCDkE7FCX
— Michelle Rempel, MP (@MichelleRempel) August 27, 2016
Rempel was on the Hill when Michael Zehaf-Bibeau attacked the National War Memorial and killed Cpl. Nathan Cirillo before entering Parliament buildings.
During the attack, Conservative MPs pinned themselves against the walls of their barricaded caucus room while security forces exchanged fire with a gunman just metres away. Harper was hustled into a closet and spirited away by security as soon as there was an all-clear, leaving fellow MPs to remain in lockdown for hours.
Much of downtown Ottawa was affected by the lockdown and it was hours before it was known that the threat had been contained. The shooting on Parliament Hill shook Canadians and prompted calls for stronger anti-terrorism laws.
In a barrage of tweets, Rempel wrote to Critch about his post, “I don’t have words to describe my disgust.“
In a six tweet series, Rempel reminded the 22 Minutes funnyman what people on the Hill went through that day, describing the fear of not knowing if colleagues or friends were injured or killed and how the panic of that day still affected her whenever she heard gunfire. She concluded, "what you posted isn’t satire, or comedy. It’s a f–king embarrassment.”
Rempel apologized online for her choice of language.
Critch, who is currently attending The Gathering in Burlington, N.L., told CBC News he took the post down and smoothed things over with Rempel.
In a statement to CBC, Critch said “Michelle and I had a good conversation. She wrote me an apology for flaming out and I deleted the picture. No hard feelings on either side.”