The Larry Ingram campaign in Battlefords-Lloydminster brought in the top Liberal in the country in the final days leading to the federal by-election on Dec. 11.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was at the Dekker Centre Thursday night for a campaign rally with supporters. The rally was in support of Ingram’s Liberal bid in the by-election race.
It was Ingram who introduced Trudeau, who entered through the doors to cheers.
The event was billed as a meet and greet, and it was, with Trudeau shaking hands and posing for photos and “selfies” on his way to the main stage.
Once on stage, Trudeau gave a brief speech in support of Liberal policies and in support of Ingram. His speech reiterated familiar themes about turning away from divisive and negative politics, and of promoting strong working relationships among the various levels of government.
“What’s really important is that we all roll up our sleeves and work together,” said Trudeau.
“The federal government, provincial government, and particularly municipal leadership and Indigenous leadership, that’s the only way to build a stronger Canada.”
Afterwards, Trudeau resumed shaking hands and posing for pictures with the public before heading off for the night.
The event itself was tightly controlled. While there was a large contingent of media in the room, the event was a photo-op only, with no opportunity provided for reporters to directly pose questions to the prime minister.
The venue itself was heavily secured with a large and visible presence of RCMP.
Liberal organizers were overjoyed at the turnout. They said to reporters that an estimated 900 people attended the event.
While many of those in the room were Liberal supporters, the crowd did include some notable supporters of the other parties, including Conservatives and New Democrats.
Even independent federal candidate Ken Finlayson was in the line to meet Trudeau as he was departing, and had a brief conversation with him on the Indian Act. On his Facebook page, Finlayson stated he asked Trudeau “how can you create equality by legislating inequality?”
“I’ll give this guy Trudeau credit for one thing,” Finlayson stated on Facebook. “He works a crowd good (He’s a “Rock Star” celebrity) and exposes himself to semi controlled criticism.”
The event concluded what had been a hectic last few days for the Prime Minister.
Trudeau had just flown back to Canada after several days in China where he met Chinese officials including president Xi Jinping. The main story was Trudeau’s efforts at a trade deal with the Chinese.
The tight timelines for Trudeau to leave for the North Battleford event had prompted some local speculation that Trudeau might not even make it. As it turned out, Trudeau departed Guangzhou, China at what would have been the early hours of the morning Saskatchewan time on Thursday.
The prime minister’s RCAF 01 aircraft stopped to let him off in Saskatoon, and from there Trudeau made his way to the North Battleford event.
Just before taking the stage, Trudeau met with North Battleford Mayor Ryan Bater for a few minutes.
Bater said to reporters that he spoke with Trudeau about the city’s public safety challenges.
“We talked solely about that and our challenges,” Bater said. “He was aware of the attention that we’ve been getting, the national spotlight. I told him we are working hard at the local level. I challenged him to find any other city in the country who are doing as much as we are on the community safety file. The need to align the four levels of government is absolutely important; he agreed with me.”
Bater had also stressed working with their regional partners.
“Their concerns are our concerns, we are all in this together and we want to work with the federal government on these issues.”
All in all, Bater was impressed with the Trudeau rally. “It’s not every day that the Prime Minister visits North Battleford, so it’s a unique evening.”
Trudeau was due to head to another event in Saskatoon on Friday morning as part of his visit to the province. Meanwhile, all the candidates were back campaigning in Battlefords-Lloydminster for the final days of the Dec. 11 by-election campaign.
Photos by John Cairns and Josh Greschner
