Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau stopped at Barrie’s Pie Wood Fired Pizza Joint on Friday, days before the federal election.
It was the second time Trudeau visited Barrie during his campaign — the Liberal leader also made an appearance at the Flying Monkeys Craft Brewery at the end of September.
Before he visited Barrie on Friday, Trudeau made an appearance at the Mariposa Market in Orillia and at the Baby Shack in Whitby.
During his Barrie campaign stop, Trudeau made some quick remarks then headed off to his next stop, Vaughan.
“We chose to invest in Canadians, invest in communities, invest in our seniors who needed that extra help,” Trudeau said to supporters.
“Our investments to help Canadians have lifted 900,000 people out of poverty across this country,” he added. “Most importantly, we did that at a time where we were also growing the economy.”
Brian Kalliecharan, the Liberal Party’s Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte candidate, accompanied Trudeau at the Barrie pizza joint Friday, along with Lisa-Marie Wilson, the Liberal Party’s Barrie—Innisfil candidate.
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“(Trudeau) is seeing how Barrie—Springwater—Oro-Medonte is shifting from traditionally leaning blue to more and more people saying, ‘We believe in a Liberal platform,'” Kalliecharan told Global News.
“The numbers are showing it — (there’s) lots of momentum.”
Wilson echoed similar comments.
“This area has typically been Conservative … however, that’s not the landscape anymore,” Wilson told Global News.
“I think his visit signifies that Barrie is on the verge of being entirely red.”
Just over a week ago, Chrystia Freeland, the Liberal candidate for University—Rosedale, visited Barrie to announce the Liberals’ plan to clean up and restore Lake Simcoe.
Previously, a Lake Simcoe clean-up fund was in place under the federal Conservatives, but it’s been absent for several years under Trudeau’s leadership.
“One of my mandates on my platform was, and it has been and continues to be, the environment,” Kalliecharan said.
On a local level, he added, that meant looking after Lake Simcoe.
“I wanted to create a successor plan to the original Lake Simcoe cleanup fund. Working with my campaign manager and my team, we made this happen.”
But while some are concerned with the environment, others are worried about how an elected government would support seniors.
“When the Harper government came in, they had taken the old-age security from 65 and brought it up to 67,” Kalliecharan said. “One of the first things we did, when we were brought into government, was to reverse that.”
The candidate noted the Liberals have also committed to increasing old-age security by 10 per cent by the age of 75.
“We are investing in our seniors from, once again, pharmacare, doctors and housing,” Wilson added.
Meanwhile, Conservative Party Leader Andrew Scheer started the day in New Brunswick before making his way to Quebec. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May were both in British Columbia on Friday.
The federal election will take place Monday.
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