Liberal caucus coming to town
MP says meeting of caucus in Kelowna next month will help draw attention to local issues
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the Liberal caucus will meet in Kelowna next month. The summer caucus will be held Sept. 5-7. Kelowna-Lake Country Liberal MP Stephen Fuhr says he began advocating for the meeting to be held in Kelowna last fall.
“Once I heard it was going to be out West . . . I wrote letters to the decision-makers, I advocated in person to the decision-makers and I started lobbying my colleagues from the East, outlining what we had to offer here,” said Fuhr. Hosting the Liberal caucus will help bring attention to local issues, he said.
“As an advocate for the community, it makes my job easier when my colleagues understand the community, and having them here goes a long way in helping them understand our community,” said Fuhr. “There’s a lot of competing priorities in Ottawa.”
Fuhr plans to highlight the Okanagan’s diverse economy to Trudeau and the rest of the caucus.
“I think we’re well suited to help meet some of the initiatives the Liberals are trying to push for, like technology, support for our academic institutions and support for innovation,” he said. “I’m hoping that when I go back in the fall to advocate for some of the programming dollars, it will be easier for me to say this is a good place to invest federal money.
“I want to make sure we have the best chance we can to have our share of support from Ottawa.”
This will mark Trudeau’s first official visit to the Okanagan since the 2015 federal election, but he was here last August for a vacation, said Fuhr.
“It’s a good indicator that this region is certainly in his conscious thought for him to come here on his own time.”
Details about public events during the caucus meeting will be announced at a later date.