Trudeau rallies supporters
Liberal leader makes stop in New Glasgow
NEW GLASGOW, N.S. — With less than a week remaining before election day, Liberal leader Justin Trudeau made a brief stop in New Glasgow on Oct. 15.
In preparation for the photoop, a large section of Archimedes Street was shut down as a crowd gathered for a chance to get signatures and photos. More than 300 people converged inside and out of the Coffee Bean café, where Trudeau was scheduled to make his appearance at 3:15 p.m.
Trudeau started the day in Fredericton before stopping at Masstown Market, near Truro. His next stop in New Glasgow was delayed and Central Nova’s Liberal candidate and incumbent Sean Fraser got the crowd warmed up.
“The single tool you have that can implement the greatest social change in our country for the next four years is to go vote,” said Fraser, speaking to supporters before Trudeau’s arrival. “We expect to win a close election and we’re going to do it because we have enough people who show up in the middle of their work day to come out here.”
Among the red campaign signs in the crowd was a black, red and white “No Pipe” sign, opposing Northern Pulp's desire to discharge treated effluent from a pipe into the Northumberland Strait as part of a new treatment facility.
“Politicians can’t represent you if they don’t know what you think,” said Terry Mosh Dunbrack, an active member of the Clean Up the Mill Facebook group.
Chief Andrea Paul of Pictou Landing First Nation was also at the event and was among many people wearing red A’se’k shirts. A’se’k is the Mi'kmaq word for the once tidal estuary next to the PLFN community.
“We’re not satisfied with guesses and assumptions,” said Paul. “We need to know exactly what’s going into the water.”
At a Q&A event in Merigomish on Oct. 9, Fraser said he could not approve Northern Pulp’s plan for a treated effluent facility based on the current advice that he’s gotten from federal and provincial scientists.
“They do not have enough information to confirm that it is, in fact, safe,” he said. “I am interested in hearing what the federal scientists and provincial scientists have to say, and I am committed to being part of a government that abides by legal processes that considers facts, science and evidence when they are considering major projects.”
When Trudeau arrived after 4 p.m., there was little time for anything other than signatures and photos with his supporters, who chanted “four more years.”
Following his New Glasgow stop, Trudeau travelled to Halifax where he was scheduled for a rally at the end of the day.