Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attended a campaign rally Sunday night for the Liberal party’s candidate in the critical Burnaby South byelection in B.C.
Trudeau was shouted down by a small but vocal group of anti-pipeline protesters, responding that some people will choose the politics of anger, fear and division, but Liberals will stay focused on serving Canadians, bringing people together and building a better future.
Trudeau says B.C. is a leader in environmental advocacy, specifically referencing the province’s carbon tax.
“We have demonstrated in B.C. that putting a price on pollution allows you to grow the economy while creating good jobs for everyone. That’s the path we have because we know there’s not a choice to be made between the environment and the economy anymore. They have to go together.”
Trudeau has clashed in recent months with B.C.’s provincial government over the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project on Burnaby Mountain. Ottawa recently bought out the project for 4.5 billion dollars.
Trudeau championed Richard Lee as a voice for the Burnaby South riding, throwing punches at former prime minister Stephen Harpers’s administration as an example of local MPs who would echo whatever the federal government wanted.
“We saw it all the time, that the local MPs were voices for Ottawa in the ridings. Well, that’s not what the people here in Burnaby South want, that’s not what the people right across Canada need. We need strong local voices standing up for you, fighting for you in Ottawa.”
The February 25 byelection in Burnaby South is an important one for the Liberals and for the federal NDP, whose party leader Jagmeet Singh is running in the riding.
Singh, who moved to Burnaby last year with his wife to run in the riding, is counting on taking Burnaby South in order to solidify his status as party leader, secure a seat in the House of Commons and make a run for the prime minister’s seat in the federal election in October.
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