MONTREAL — For Canada, it wasn’t a typical campaign event.

At a college in Hamilton, Ontario, protesters chanted “Nazi scum, off our streets!” and clashed with supporters of the populist Canadian leader, Maxime Bernier, a member of Parliament who embraces his nickname “Mad Max” and rails against immigration and climate change “hysteria.”

There was violent pushing and shoving on both sides, according to the police, and anti-Bernier protesters tried to block an 81-year-old woman with a walker from entering the venue where Mr. Bernier was scheduled to speak.

The altercation late last month might seem familiar in the United States or Europe, where far-right movements have ridden a wave of populism in recent years. But in Canada, a country that prides itself on its political decorum and multiculturalism, it underscored the extent to which Mr. Bernier is jolting the political landscape as the national election approaches on Oct. 21.

[Canadians elected a Liberal minority government, granting Justin Trudeau a second term as prime minister.]