Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Andrew Scheer were in Vancouver Thursday, both trying to appeal to voters.
Scheer began his day with a speech to the Vancouver Board of Trade. He spoke about a range of topics facing the business community, around housing affordability, transit, infrastructure and taxes. He says his party needs to do a better job explaining its vision to Canadians, along with the reasons why.
“We have to, as Conservatives, do a better job and a big part of my leadership campaign now in these early months is getting to the ‘why’,” said Scheer. “Explaining why Conservatives believe what we believe and I’ve often thought that Conservatives end the sentence a little bit too early.
“We say ‘we support balanced budgets’ and that’s where we put the period. But we need to go beyond that. We need to say why we support balanced budgets. And the why is important because what we’re seeing more and more is the negative consequences of these deficits.”
Trudeau also made several stops around Vancouver Thursday.
His first was at a community centre for marginalized women and families on the Downtown Eastside.
“So that’s really exciting.”
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On Wednesday, both Trudeau and Scheer spent some time in the riding of South Surrey – White Rock.
A federal byelection is taking place next month in the riding to replace the seat left vacant by Dianne Watts, who stepped down to run for the leadership of the BC Liberal Party.