Trudeau grilled by testy audience
1,400 attend town hall meeting to pose questions on wide range of federal issues
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau faced a sometimes testy audience on Thursday night at a town hall in Edmonton. The 1,400-strong crowd at MacEwan University lobbed some tough questions at the PM. What’s he doing to follow through on Indigenous reconciliation? Can he explain the reasoning behind changes to small business taxes? What’s the federal government doing about wait times for treatment of incurable diseases? Will the Liberals bring in universal free post-secondary education? Trudeau also faced two questions from former soldiers about supports for veterans. One of them came from Brock Blaszczyk, a Morinville resident. The retired corporal served in Afghanistan from October 2009 to April 2010, until he was injured in an explosion and lost his leg. He wanted to know a few things, including why the federal government continues to fight veterans in court over disability payments. Nobody forced me to fight for Canada, Blaszczyk told Trudeau, “but what I wasn’t prepared for, Mr. Prime Minister, was Canada turning its back on me.” The prime minister’s answer concentrated on federal veteran supports. When it comes to the court cases, he said, some veteran groups are asking “for more than we can give right now.” Blaszczyk was “expecting the typical politician answers” from Trudeau, and though he wasn’t necessarily happy with the answers he was given, he was glad he came. “I wanted to put the prime minister under some pressure,” he said afterwards. “I wanted to bring some notice to this, and what’s happening to veterans. It’s not all fine and dandy, and I hope I can create some inspiration to do what the old bumper sticker says — ‘Support Our Troops.’ ” The final question of the evening received cheers on the one-year anniversary of Trudeau’s federal election campaign promise to reform Canada’s electoral system: What’s he doing about that? Trudeau’s answer was that he can’t be convinced proportional representation is the right thing for Canada’s democracy. Not everybody got answers. One angry spectator stood and yelled repeatedly at Trudeau, but declined to put his hand up to speak into a microphone. Quieter protesters were also in the room, unfurling anti-pipeline banners when a question was asked about the Trans Mountain expansion. “Albertans against Kinder Morgan,” read one. “No jobs on a dead planet,” read another.