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Trudeau meets with Scheer, Moe as he moves to resume Parliament on Dec. 5

ABOVE: Trudeau meets with Scheer, Saskatchewan's Moe – Nov 12, 2019
The House of Commons will reconvene on Dec. 5 — nearly two months after it dissolved for the 43rd general election.
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According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office, the first order of business will be to elect the Speaker of the House.

A throne speech from the Governor General will follow.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau was re-elected as Canada’s prime minister on Oct. 21. He is expected to unveil his new cabinet on Nov. 20.

The announcement from Trudeau’s office came moments before a scheduled meeting with Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer in Ottawa.

Scheer had pushed for Parliament to resume on Nov. 25, mere days after Trudeau is due to unveil his new cabinet.

Prior to the meeting, Trudeau said they would discuss affordability, growth for the middle class and climate change.

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“Last month, Canadians elected a Parliament that they expect to work together, and that’s exactly what I’m going to be focusing on doing,” he said.

Scheer said he would lay out the Conservatives’ specific priorities at the meeting.

“This country is more divided than ever has been. We need to get to work as quickly as possible so we can address the priorities of Canadians and bring our country closer together,” he said.

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The December session will immediately follow the NATO meeting in London, Trudeau added.

Trudeau’s Liberals were essentially locked out of Alberta and Saskatchewan during the election as tensions over the oil, gas and energy industries have risen. This has left Trudeau and his new minority government with a new challenge to ensure fair representation for western provinces.

Scheer said it’s “up to Mr. Trudeau to find common ground.”

“We told him what we’d like to see in the throne speech, we told him what we expected,” he said following the 30-minute one-on-one.

“The fact is, people in Western Canada have to see that their government supports the energy sector. In the last four years, Justin Trudeau has attacked that sector with his Bill C-69 and 48 so we will … we want to show that legislation has a big impact on them.”

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When asked whether he intends to meet with leaders of the Green Party, Bloc Québécois or NDP, Scheer said there was “nothing planned” but that he “looked forward to having the opportunity” should it arise before Dec. 5.

After the meeting with Scheer, Trudeau sat down with Scott Moe, the premier of Saskatchewan.

Moe told reporters he was seeking several things from Trudeau — a one-year pause on the federal carbon tax in his province, the completion of oil pipelines and a reworked equalization formula.

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He did not get those commitments, he said afterward, describing the meeting as “disappointing.” Moe said he merely saw “more of the same” from the prime minister during the discussion.

With files from the Canadian Press 

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