WARNING: This story contains disturbing language.
A Conservative senator from Nova Scotia was seen on a video deriding the response of people who live in Ottawa to recent protests, saying he鈥檚 sick of their entitlement and 鈥渟ix-figure salaries and 20-hour work weeks.鈥
Sen. Michael MacDonald expressed support for the protesters who occupied Ottawa for more than three weeks.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a cross-section of Canadians who have said we have had enough of the bullying, and the duplicity and the lies,鈥 he said.
Reached Sunday night, MacDonald said the video was recorded Wednesday night when he was returning from dinner and had been drinking. He said he had asked the person with the camera not to record.
鈥淚鈥檓 mortified,鈥 he told CTV News.
He said he will issue an apology in the Senate on Monday.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to go up and take my medicine," he said. "I have always been a responsible senator. I鈥檝e let a lot of people down.鈥
In the video, MacDonald said he wanted protesters to leave Windsor, Ont., and other places they are interfering with transportation, "but in Ottawa, I don鈥檛 want them to leave,鈥 he added.
He mocked the response of Ottawa residents to the protests, saying: 鈥淥h, I hear this all the time 鈥 鈥楾hey鈥檙e in our city鈥 鈥 It鈥檚 everybody鈥檚 f------ city.鈥
鈥淭his is the capital of the country. It鈥檚 not your g------ city just because you have a six-figure salary and you work 20 hours a week,鈥 he says.
Among those in Ottawa earning six-figure salaries are senators, like MacDonald, who are paid a base salary of $160,000 annually and can serve until age 75.
The video appeared to be recorded by someone sympathetic to the protests.
MacDonald thanked the person recording for having the 鈥渃ourage and decency鈥 to come to Ottawa.
MacDonald also described his own wife as 鈥渁 Karen,鈥 because she wanted the protesters to leave.
A 鈥淜aren鈥 is a derisive term often used online to describe someone who complains about vaccination and COVID-19 mask mandates. In fact, Sen. MacDonald鈥檚 wife is named Marilyn, according to his Senate biography.
鈥淚鈥檓 so sick of the entitlement of this country and this f------ city,鈥 he added, 鈥渁nd their b------- nonsense, calling people bigots and racists and everything else. This is so unfair.鈥
In October, MacDonald became the first member of the Conservative caucus to call for a review of former leader Erin O鈥橳oole鈥檚 leadership.
He will also be voting in the Senate on the Liberal government鈥檚 legislation invoking the Emergencies Act in response to the protest in Ottawa and elsewhere, should it pass through the House of Commons.
MacDonald spent most of his career working in provincial and federal politics and served as the vice-president of the Conservative Party of Canada until he was appointed to the Senate in 2009 on the advice of then-prime minister Stephen Harper.
