THUNDER BAY – With an eye on this year’s federal election, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau found a friendly reception in Thunder Bay.
Trudeau capped his first visit to the city in nearly three years with a two-hour town hall style meeting at the CJ Sanders Fieldhouse on Lakehead University campus on Friday night, being joined by hundreds of mostly supportive city residents.
The prime minister fielded 17 questions from audience members, ranging from the environment, education, infrastructure and the economy.
Trudeau forecasted the environment and climate change as a potentially key election issue as his Liberals seek a second term while a coalition of provinces prepare to challenge a federally imposed carbon tax.
“There’s a few things we have to all agree on. I can’t believe I have to say this, but climate change is real and it’s a massive threat to our lives, our ecosystems, our well-being and our futures,” Trudeau said.
“Unfortunately, there are four provinces so far, coincidentally or not all led by conservative politicians including right here in Ontario, that refuse to move forward and put a price on pollution. They want to make pollution free again.”
Two of the environment-related questions also levelled criticism at Trudeau for last year’s decision to acquire the stalled Trans Mountain pipeline for $4.5 billion, with one person telling him that “climate leaders don’t buy pipelines.”
Trudeau responded that as long as the economy remains reliant upon fossil fuels, the government needs to ensure that Canadian oil can be sold at a fair price.
“Since we do have oil resources, the choices are putting them on tanker trucks, putting it on trains or putting it in a modern pipeline,” Trudeau said. “Pipelines remain the safest way to export our oil resources.”
While most of the questions hit on priority points for the Trudeau government, the prime minister could not dodge the SNC-Lavalin scandal that has resulted in the resignation of two cabinet ministers, a key staffer and the clerk of the Privy Council.
“You were saying how you were protecting the jobs. That’s been the common narrative, that you’re protecting the 9,000 jobs that SNC employs across Canada and in Quebec,” Michael Coccimiglio said. “Well, the SNC-Lavalin CEO said this week he never raised the issue of jobs with you and your team, yet that’s what everyone seems to be saying that’s the reason for all of this.”
That question drew a smattering of applause throughout the audience and launched Trudeau into a nine-minute answer, where he deflected the defections and took aim at the Conservatives for this weeks’ marathon vote in the House of Commons.
“Jody Wilson-Raybould, Celina Caesar-Chavannes and Dr. Jane Philpott have made decisions about their own positioning and their own perspective on this that I absolutely respect, but to a certain extent I disagree with,” Trudeau said.
“We have a situation where the Conservatives don’t even want to talk about (the budget) right now. They don’t want anyone else talking about it, so they’re trying to amplify this particular discussion.”
The crowd, which began filling the venue two hours prior to the start of the event, was largely appreciative of having the opportunity to share a room with the prime minister.
Meagan Harris, a Trudeau supporter in 2015, said she supports his government’s work with Indigenous people.
“I feel like he’s done a lot to focus on strengthening Indigenous relationships in Canada, which I think in our demographic is super important,” Harris said.
“I think it’s gotten better. For me personally, only under Trudeau’s government was my community (Missanabie Cree First Nation) granted their land back in June after 112 years.
Despite not being able to vote for another seven years, 11-year-old Parmida Akbari said she wanted to hear about the Trudeau’s plans for the upcoming election.
“I think that we should have a chance to understand what’s happening in our world,” she said. “I’m hoping to hear about his plan for the economy and about immigration.”
