PM calls rivals ‘all hat, no cattle’
The Conservatives are favoured to win two Calgary byelections, but they are “all hat and no cattle” in failing on pipeline approvals, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday as he rallied his local faithful.
Trudeau also said winning two seats in the city in the 2015 federal election shows there are no safe seats for the Conservatives.
“They’ve taken Albertans for granted for so long and will continue to ride on that,” the prime minister told reporters.
The ridings of Calgary Heritage and Calgary Midnapore were vacated by former prime minister Stephen Harper and current Alberta PC leadership candidate Jason Kenney, respectively.
Both political heavyweights won those seats in earlier years by taking about two-thirds of votes cast.
Trudeau said he was under no illusions about the challenge his candidates face in Calgary in the campaign running up to the April 3 byelections. “We know conversations we’re having at the door aren’t always going to be easy in ridings always held by the Conservatives,” said Trudeau, flanked by candidates Haley Brown, running in Midnapore, and Scott Forsyth, who’s contesting Heritage.
“We actually got pipelines approved, and the way we did that was by showing leadership on the environment.”
Conservatives accustomed to Calgary victories, he said, “talk a great game but, as you say around here, are all hat and no cattle.”
Conservative interim Leader Rona Ambrose was also stumping in the city for her party’s hopefuls, Bob Benzen in Heritage and Stephanie Kusie in Midnapore.
Her party isn’t taking either of the seats for granted, said Ambrose, but added Trudeau’s plans for a federal carbon tax atop an already unpopular one in Alberta will make things tough for the Liberals.
“This byelection’s going to be about who’s standing up for the taxpayer and working people,” she said.
“This is going to be about the carbon tax ... Mr. Trudeau is coming into town tonight to tell them the panacea is the carbon tax.
“We know it’s a disaster in Ontario and it’s a disaster here, and Mr. Trudeau is carrying on like nothing is happening.”
Trudeau said a carbon tax is a market-oriented solution for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, an approach Conservatives traditionally favour.
And he noted Conservative leadership candidate Michael Chong has voiced support for a carbon tax.
The prime minister said Wednesday’ s visit was his sixth to Calgary in the past year.
Said Ambrose: “I get to come back to Alberta a lot more often than him.”
Later, a rally of Liberal faithful at Stampede Park headlined by a Trudeau appearance attracted about 600 people, including a dozen Syrian refugees from the war-shattered city of Aleppo who paid gratitude to the PM.
“He helped us, all of the Syrian families, to come to Canada,” said Mustafa Siho, 17.
Liberal activist Michael Gretton was also among the crowd, and admitted the two byelections are an uphill battle.
“But it’s much more hopeful — I really appreciate him being a PM who makes this city a priority,” said Gretton.