The leader of the Green Party of Canada reached across the aisle this week to defend a Tory MP harassed by a St. Catharines man on Twitter.

"I will always reach across the aisle because I have no patience for hyper-partisan politics. I never have," said Elizabeth May Friday in an interview, a day after taking to Twitter to defend Conservative Party deputy leader Lisa Raitt. "We don't have a lot in common politically, but Lisa is a friend, and I wanted to as much as possible reach out and give her a virtual hug."

On Thursday, Raitt posted a screenshot of a direct Twitter message sent to her by St. Catharines resident and city council candidate Rob Gill which used the acronym "STFU," for "shut the f--k up."

"It's nice that you understand you have dementia," Gill wrote. "Now get help and STFU."

In her Twitter profile, Raitt refers to herself as a "dementia friend," a reference to her husband Bruce Wood, who is diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, a form of dementia.

"Ironic that he manages to stigmatize my husband's illness while attempting to insult me," Raitt wrote on Twitter when sharing Gill's message.

"Lisa. This is beyond vile. You are such a clear, strong and brave woman. We should not be subjected to this kind of abuse," May wrote on Twitter.

In an interview with The Standard Friday, Gill said he did not know about Wood's illness and said he did not intend to insult anyone with a mental illness.

However, he justified telling Raitt to shut up during the interview. He repeatedly said Raitt behaves "like a dog in the House of Commons," called her a liar and said she should "shut her hog mouth." He referred to May as a "nutbar."

"You want to know what? Fighting everyone with thoughts and prayers and kind words isn't working anymore. It's not working. So I am being more direct and abrasive - 100 per cent. Because some of these people flat out lie day in and day out," he said. "People say horrible things, so I am going to say horrible things back. People are being much too Canadian about this."

He accused Raitt, who did not respond to an interview request from The Standard, of "weaponizing" her "lunatic rightwing followers "to threaten me and my family."

Gill said he has received several threatening messages including one from the Twitter account @thecapitalvoice that wrote: "See you real Soon Rob, you have a Safe night now, best regards REAL SOON."

Gill also provided The Standard with a voice message he says he received. An unidentified man in the message says "I will find you."

Gill said Raitt had "no right" to share the message he sent to her with her more than 50,000 Twitter followers because he is a "private citizen."

"As an elected official she is supposed to have a thicker skin. Use the mute button. Use the block button. Brush it off," said Gill, who regularly attacks those who disagree with or is offended by him on Twitter. "We literally pay politicians to take the s--t we throw at them when we don't like what they do."

Shortly before the interview with The Standard, Gill made his Twitter account protected - meaning it is only visible to those he permits to see it - and said he has called the police about the threatening messages.

Brock University political science professor Bylane Haggart said the incident appears like a "schoolyard argument" but is nonetheless emblematic of political culture on Twitter which rewards "pithy, insulting and caustic comments."

"Twitter is not a place where you can have a rational discussion about anything. It's awful," he said. "It might be better for everyone if someone could take Twitter and launch it to the centre of the sun."

Haggart said Twitter has an outsized influence on politics, especially in the age of Donald Trump, because people have deemed what happens on the platform to be important.

But the platform's character limits and tendency to reward outrageous comments makes it a poor place to have serious policy discussions.

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"Twitter and Facebook don't really care what you are posting on their websites. They just care that material is being posted and shared. That is the core of their business model," he said.

Haggart said the prevalence of vitriol - along with the role social media played in the Russian interference of the 2016 U.S. presidential election - has prompted the United Kingdom and France to explore regulatory options.

However, potential regulation is fraught with problems, including free speech and free market issues that would require a deft policy hand to navigate, he said.

May said the Twitter ecosystem is "destructive to our political discourse" pointing to the litany of anonymous Twitter trolls "who say and post things they never would face to face or if they had to use their names."

May said anonymity on Twitter has allowed white supremacists and other extremists to have a largely consequence-free platform to spread hate and Canadians need to find ways to improve or otherwise regulate social media content.

The issue is not about trying to limit criticism of politicians, she said.

"That has been around forever. Mark Twain said when God created idiots, he tested it by creating politicians," she said. "What is different is the volume and reach of anonymous people who say vile things."

May said she regularly receives volumes of hateful and sexist messages, but nonetheless won't block anyone on Twitter.

She hopes platforms like Twitter will regulate themselves much as newspapers have in the past.

"For instance, a newspaper would never run a letter to the editor that (was like Gill's message to Raitt)," she said. "Nor would you run a letter that did not have someone's real name and address."

The incident with Raitt was not the first time Gill has earned the wrath of politicians on Twitter. In December, Gill tweeted the address of the parents of Niagara West Progressive Conservative MPP Sam Oosterhoff, urging people to protest at their home after Oosterhoff appeared on stage with the anti-gay preacher Charles McVety along with Premier Doug Ford.

The tweet prompted Oosterhoff to file a complaint about Gill with the Niagara Regional Police.