Former Liberal prime minister Jean Chrétien warned against what he called a “Trump mentality” coming to Canada during an endorsement appearance in Ottawa Saturday.
Appearing at Liberal candidate Catherine McKenna’s riding office in an effort to support her bid for re-election, Chrétien made a speech cautioning against the divisive American politics that have flourished under U.S. President Donald Trump.
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“It’s very sad to see what’s going on down south, and we don’t need that in Canada, because this country here, we’re not appealing to the fear of people,” said Chrétien.
“We’re appealing to the generosity of people. We try to get out the best of every individual in our land.”
McKenna, who served as environment minister, touted several Liberal commitments during the rally, with a focus on climate change.
“I’ve committed that if I am re-elected, there will be more affordable housing, there will be more public transit, there will be more climate action in Ottawa Centre,” said McKenna.
The riding was an NDP stronghold prior to the 2015 election. The party held it for more than 10 years.
In a post to Twitter shortly after Chretien’s visit, Ottawa Centre NDP candidate Emilie Taman criticized the Liberals for failing to follow through on previous promises.
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She said the party called in the former prime minister to bail McKenna “out of trouble.”
Taman went on further, disputing Chretien’s record on the environment.
“Mr. Chretien cared so much about the environment, he blew past our Kyoto targets by 30%” Taman wrote.
Conservative candidate Carol Clemenhagen and Green candidate Angela Keller-Herzog also spoke of the environment on social media on Saturday.
In a video that was posted to Twitter, Clemenhagen reiterated one of her party’s promises to stop sewage overflows into aquatic ecosystems.
“One of the problems that the city of Ottawa has each year, is the problem of sewage overflow into the Ottawa river, a major source of effluent pollution,” said Clemenhagen.
Keller-Herzog made a pitch to undecided voters in a video posted to Facebook.
“If you think that climate is an important issue, the big challenge of our day, who would you trust for effective action on climate?”
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