PM on hot seat over jobs, immigration and pipelines
It took 50 minutes before some of the most pertinent issues on Saskatchewan minds — namely, pipelines and the carbon tax — came up at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s town hall in Regina on Thursday night.
But when it did, the floodgates opened, with consistent questions — sometimes from opposing points of view — on those topics being tossed at the prime minister.
Trudeau spoke about the carbon tax in response to a question from Estevan’s Jason Leblanc who charged that the federal government wasn’t paying enough attention to the measures being taken in Saskatchewan, particularly in agriculture, to reduce emissions. Trudeau told Leblanc and the rest of the audience we have to accept climate change is real and that putting a price on pollution is the best way to solve that problem.
Court Klein, an Evraz employee, wearing an I Love Pipelines T-shirt kicked off the pipeline topic when he asked Trudeau about pipeline tariffs and reminded the prime minister he’d promised to fight for steelworkers during a trip to the Regina mill last year.
“Why would you sign on to the USMCA while the tariffs were still active? Why didn’t you walk away?” said Klein.
To cheers, he asked, “You can legalize marijuana, but you can’t twin a pipeline to the coast?” in reference to the Trans Mountain pipeline.
Trudeau said he recognizes the steel tariffs hurt workers and the economy, but also said the government is putting measures in place to help workers in places like Regina and Sault Ste. Marie.
“Do we sign the new NAFTA with our largest and most important trading partner or do we walk away from a $2-billion-a-day trading relationship that is hugely important for the Canadian economy?” said Trudeau.
The prime minister said he is taking the issue of American tariffs seriously, notably through retaliatory measures put in place.
He then turned to the issue of Trans Mountain and his Liberal government spending $4.5 billion to buy it, in order to complete the project that includes the pipeline, pumping stations and rights of way along the route between Edmonton and Vancouver, as well as the terminal in Burnaby, B.C., where oil is loaded into tankers for export.
The prime minister said he is “confident” the pipeline will make money and be “very valuable” once it is complete, but there needs to be consultation with Indigenous people “as much as possible.”
“We have to engage in partnership, in respectful dialogue, in benefit-sharing, in respect and partnership with Indigenous people,” he said. “That’s the way we’re going to get these pipelines built.”
It was clear Trudeau was expecting questions on the topic, given its relevance in the province. At one point, his aides were openly calling for questions, asking “Where are pipelines? Where is the carbon tax?”
He then took a series comments and questions on being a globalist and “betraying” Canada, telling the person who asked it and audience that such misinformation is being put forward on the internet to “create fear and division” before encouraging people to “question what all politicians say.”
Trudeau was greeted by both cheers and boos, but mostly polite applause from 1,500 people as he entered a University of Regina gymnasium for the town hall.
Before taking queries from the audience, he told them he “looks forward to these opportunities” to take questions and explain why the government is making the decisions that it does.
“But this is not just an exercise for me in getting to know what is going on across the country,” he said, explaining it also allows attendees to find out what other Canadians are thinking.
His introductory comments, in which he asked people to be respectful during the event, lasted three minutes.
He answered several questions from students — and even one from a young boy about the prime minister’s favourite toy growing up — before a question on government spending came up about 40 minutes in.
Trudeau noted there was a distinction made in the last election between the Conservatives and Liberals, telling the audience it was the previous government who made significant cuts in order to balance the budget. He said his Liberals raised taxes on the wealthy, and “invested in the middle class” through items like the child family benefit, which offers support for low and moderate income families.
Regina-based protester Chelsea Flook briefly interrupted the town hall, holding a sign in support of anti-pipeline protesters in B.C. Trudeau later addressed her concerns, but she left before he finished answering.
Thursday’s visit brought out a significant number of financial Liberal backers, including Tony Merchant. The event was introduced by U of R president Vianne Timmons and Regina-wascana MP and cabinet minister Ralph Goodale.