Protesters raise foreign policy concerns at Trudeau town hall

There was a frenzy of activity in the lead up to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s town hall in Hamilton on Wednesday.

A steady stream of students and local residents stood patiently in the cold outside McMaster University’s Ivor Wynne centre, eager to take part with their questions.

Meanwhile, about a dozen others, equipped with banners with messages about climate change and foreign policy issues, set up across from them and protested.

Ken Stone, one of the organizers and a member of the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, says one of the issues he’s most concerned about is a $15-billion arms deal with Saudi Arabia, pointing to previous promises to revoke the agreement.

“By selling arms to Saudi Arabia, we are enabling their illegal war against Yemen,” he said.”It’s an illegal war of aggression that has not been authorized by the United Nations security council.”

Stone said that he had high hopes for a change in direction on the world stage, but that instead Canadians got “Harper-lite.”

Members of the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War and Hamilton 350 were not restricted to the protest outside, with some actually choosing to take part in the process that Stone said looks like preparation, calling it “the opening shot at the 2019 federal election.”