MIDGELL, P.E.I. — Stu Neatby
THE GUARDIAN
MIDGELL – Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau held a barn-side rally with supporters on a blustery Tuesday night but took no questions from local reporters during a brief campaign stop on P.E.I.
The rally, held at the farm of incumbent Liberal candidate Lawrence MacAulay, drew a large crowd, which included several members of the provincial Liberal third party.
As a crowd of Liberal party supporters huddled inside his barn in an attempt to stay out the wind, MacAulay stepped to the podium that had been set up in his parking lot.
He made a brief joke about the weather not co-operating before setting out the main theme of the Liberal campaign.
“Do we want to go back to the way it was over the last four years or do we want to go back to the Harper years?” MacAulay asked the crowd.
“In this riding, we have a new ferry coming, the Wood Islands-Caribou, which is vitally important, at least in the eastern end of Prince Edward Island.”
However, as he was in mid-sentence, the speakers began blaring the Liberal campaign anthem – One Hand Up – as Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau emerged from MacAulay’s home.
Trudeau greeted supporters with a smile, pausing for selfies as he made his way to the stage.
Trudeau warms up the crowd #peipoli pic.twitter.com/OgMOaPVuDF
— Stuart Neatby (@stu_neatby) September 17, 2019
His brief speech also leaned heavily on contrasting his own governing record with that of previous Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Trudeau did not mention the name of current Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer during the speech.
Trudeau drew attention to Harper’s decision to raise the age of eligibility for Old Age Security.
“After Stephen Harper announced – from Switzerland – that he was raising the age of retirement, we were there for you. We restored the age of eligibility for Old Age Security and Guaranteed Income Supplement from 67 back to 65,” Trudeau said.
“We’ve taken unprecedented steps for our water safety with a plan to phase out plastics, an initiative P.E.I. is already leading on as the first province to ban plastic bags.”
Trudeau also urged attendees to volunteer with other Liberal candidates.
The Liberal leader has been criticized over the last week for not taking questions from the media during campaign stops. Trudeau also did not appear in last Thursday’s televised leaders’ debate, organized by Maclean’s Magazine and CityTV. Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, Green leader Elizabeth May and NDP leader Jagmeet Singh attended the debate.
The Liberal leader has faced months of scrutiny as a result of the SNC-Lavalin scandal.
Earlier in the day, Trudeau did take questions from media during a stop in St. John’s, Newfoundland. Trudeau was asked whether he would commit to reducing or eliminating tolls for the Confederation Bridge after funding the construction of the Samuel de Champlain Bridge in Montreal, which does not toll commuters. Trudeau did not commit.
"The Samuel de Champlain Bridge was a replacement bridge. The Confederation Bridge was a new bridge that was built with the tolls as part of the financing," Trudeau said.
Egmont Conservative candidate Logan McLellan, Charlottetown Conservative candidate Robert Campbell and Malpeque Conservative candidate Stephen Stewart released a statement in response to Trudeau’s visit on the Island. The statement did not include the name of Cardigan Conservative candidate Wayne Phelan.
“Unfortunately, Justin Trudeau doesn’t understand the challenges and difficult decisions families on PEI have to make every day,” the statement read.
“The Liberals have failed to address housing affordability and by raising of mortgage insurance premiums across the board, and hiking taxes on middle-class Canadians they have made it harder to realize the dream of homeownership.”
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