Yeehaw! He didn’t skip Alberta this time
CALGARY — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says some of the people he met during his Calgary Stampede visit on Saturday lightheartedly mentioned a gaffe he made during a Canada Day speech, during which he skipped Alberta as he rattled off Canada’s provinces and territories.
“I got a couple of people teasing me for it, but no one’s made a big deal of it. It’s sort of a gentle ribbing,” Trudeau told reporters on the second-last day of the 10-day western celebration.
The prime minister met with Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi, served up pancakes at two community breakfasts and visited with Indigenous leaders at the Stampede’s Indian Village. He capped off the day at the rodeo.
The controversy over the Omar Khadr settlement dogged Trudeau, with a man who lives across from one of the pancake breakfasts putting up a big sign on top of his garage that read: “Trudeau, why don’t you pay the widow Speer?” — referring to the wife of Sgt. Chris Speer, the U.S. soldier Khadr is accused of killing in Afghanistan 15 years ago.
Khadr received an out-ofcourt settlement reportedly worth $10.5 million.
“It’s easy to understand why people are frustrated about this. I’m concerned about the money as well, which is, as I said, why we settled,” Trudeau said.
Trudeau said that fighting Khadr’s lawsuit in court and losing could have cost $30 million to $40 million. “So we decided that it was the right thing to do, to settle, both because it was the fiscally responsible thing to do, but also because we recognize that when governments violate Canadians’ fundamental rights, there have to be consequences.”