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5 times the internet got overexcited during the election

It's been a long campaign and people on social media have been taking advantage of it with hashtags and memes of their favourite events.

Incidents that sparked hashtags, memes and more

Micki Cowan · CBC News ·

Justin Trudeau called Gilles Duceppe 'mon amour' at the French leaders debate on Oct. 2, causing an uproar on the internet.

8 years ago
Duration 0:18
Liberal leader had meant to say 'my friend,' or 'mon ami' but suffered a slip of the tongue

Social media has played a big part in public discussion this federal election. Sometimes reaction went a little too far. 

Here are five times the Internet took an election incident to a whole new level.

1. Peegate

​This one takes top spot. On Sept. 6 the Internet went wild after video resurfaced of Conservative candidate Jerry Bance peeing in a mug while in someone's house to fix the dishwasher.

Bance was dropped as a candidate, but not before people on Twitter created a hashtag for the event and took it way too far.

In Saskatchewan the hashtag resurfaced over a video showing people apparently peeing on the Legislature in Regina.

Twitter even tracked how overexcited people got. Peegate got more people talking on Twitter than the economy, the Senate scandal or the refugee crisis.

2. Angry Harper supporter

On Aug. 18, hecklers in Toronto shouted down journalists questioning Harper about Duffy at a campaign stop. One man started yelling at reporters, calling one journalist a "lying piece of shit," and when asked his name he responded, "Go stuff yourselves."

Fake accounts like @AngryHarperite and photoshopped Conservative ads popped up soon after.

3. Hairgate

Before peegate, there was hairgate. This one surfaced as a hashtag on Twitter after novelist Margaret Atwood wrote a column on the federal leaders' hair, and how the different cuts were playing a part in the election campaign. People online liked that a lot, but even more when the article was removed from the National Post website. 

Atwood commented on the removal herself. 

Some Twitter users couldn't help but laugh over the ridiculous nature of the scandals. 

4. Barbaric cultural practices

Promises on the Conservative campaign trail on Oct. 2 to establish a tip phone line to report "barbaric cultural practices" got social media in an uproar. The hashtag was started by Conservative candidate Kellie Leitch, who is the current minister for the status of women. Leitch said the initiative was designed to defend Canadian values, but the Internet took it in an entirely different direction.

Some thought the tip line was connected to the recent Conservative stance on the niqab face veil.

Others poked fun at it.

5. Justin Trudeau calls Gilles Duceppe "my love" in French 

Another shining moment was on Oct. 2, when Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau had a slip of the tongue and called Bloq Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe "mon amour" during the French debate.

Duceppe's face says it all.

Of course, it wasn't long before the memes started.

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