Infrastructure Funding Highlights Trudeau Address To FCM
Prince George, B.C. – Federal Liberal leader Justin Trudeau delivered what one Prince George city councilor describes as “a very good speech” to delegates to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities annual general meeting in Niagara Falls Friday.
Councilor Albert Koehler says Trudeau “was talking about infrastructure funding, affordable housing and pretty well hit
Koehler says delegates had the opportunity to pose questions to Trudeau, the key one being “the disconnect between municipal governments and the provincial and especially, the federal government and the federal government being so far removed that they don’t even know what’s happening on the municipal level.” The councilor says one delegate said that the situation leaves the municipal level at a disadvantage.
He says Trudeau was correct when he said that “the politicians on the municipal level have direct contact with residents and citizens and that’s why things are moving faster there whereas the federal politicians do not necessarily have the same contact, or the government doesn’t have the same contact meaning getting things done takes much longer because they’re more removed.”
Koehler says Trudeau also touched on issues such as climate change “and mentioned that only 8% of all the taxes we pay are going into our municipalities so how can we solve all our problems” with that small amount going to the municipal level. Koehler says “so he raised this issue and was leaving the impression that probably a Liberal government can do better. I do not know, the money has to come from somewhere but nonetheless, it was a pretty good speech.”
Koehler says the Trudeau product has been polished up as we head toward a federal election in 2015. “I listened to him last year and he was not as refined as this year. He has improved his breathing technique and speaking and he answered some questions very, very well. So he got a standing ovation so it was good.”
Some of the other keynote speaker lined up for the convention, which runs until Monday, include the federal Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt, NDP leader Thomas Mulcair and Green leader Elizabeth May.
Comments
wouldn’t believe one word the drama queeb said . Never would I vote Liberal after having to cope with Christie Clark
All things considered I think Harper and his government do not give a hoot about what is happening in British Columbia. His western concerns are all about Alberta.
Mulcair will echo Trudeau’s comments with his own, only they will be modified to slam the Liberals as hard as possible. He must get votes from the middle since he will never get any from the hard right. Who will benefit? Harper. This pretty well allows Harper to rule as long as he wishes to.
The provincial Liberals are Liberals in name only, being a collection of those who would never vote NDP. They have little in common with the federal Liberals.
As mentioned in an earlier post, Mick must be embarrassed. Koehler you really should look into the money sucking climate change scam before you embarass your self any further.
Since when did Albert Koehler become a Trudeau lover? I thought he was a Conservative? He is either politically naive or he has changed his stripes like lynn hall.
“the politicians on the municipal level have direct contact with residents and citizens”
Not in Prince George.
Harper seems to be positioning himself for “the world stage”. He recently announced 3.4 Billion to go to world maternal health care. My opinion is that he should be putting 3.4 Billion into the healthcare of Canadians in our medical system. Some of these folks in Africa etc have reproduced 20 children in each family with their (in some cases multiple wives)wives….based on cultural practices. They have been doing this for centuries….Canada taxpayers cannot afford this particular largesse of Harper. Put this 3.4 Billion into Canada.Municipal infrastructure, health, education needs it. Also the BC Liberals are a re-branded right wing party with fervent religious evangelism in the mix via party faithful. Dont confuse this with federal Liberals. Justin Trudeau is young but he is whip smart and tough
And has good people in his party.Harper is the opposite in my opinion. Harper “is good to go” in the next election.
yourkiddingme, you do not know Mr. Koehler personally. If you did you would not make the sort of comment you posted.
taxpayerteacher, I fully agree! Harper is trying to create a legacy for himself… with our money! The annual 700 million would do quite a bit right here at home in Canada! Too bad these Conservative Ottawa people are so totally out of touch with reality!
BTW, PM Pierre Trudeau visited Prince George and so did Justin Trudeau! Mr. Harper has never found it convenient to visit this city! We obviously have a zero rating on his agenda of importance.
Promises, promises and more promises. Koehler need not look any farther then city council to know that politicians are great at making promises but dismal at keeping them.
The Federal Liberals are more the counterparts of the provincial NDP then they are of the provincial Liberals. They like to spend, spend and spend. If it wasn’t for Paul Martin I think the Cretien era would have bankrupt us.
It is called appropriate measures for the time.
You can take that and apply it whichever way you like it. It is called polispeak.
Ah, Mr. Trudeau, eh? Hug yer daughters. Justin thinks it’s OK to abort them if you didn’t want a girl. Along the lines of all ignorant Third World nations. So sad what pretends to be leadership in this country.
Yup, people are mixing up their Provincial and Federal political parties. The Federal Liberals are at a much different place in the political spectrum than the Provincial Liberals.
PG: “BTW, PM Pierre Trudeau visited Prince George and so did Justin Trudeau! Mr. Harper has never found it convenient to visit this city! We obviously have a zero rating on his agenda of importance. “
Oh please. If Harper doing a sightseeing tour of BC would change people’s opinion of him, I’m sure he’d do it.
I remember the kid’s ol’ man touring B.C. I think if I recall it was the called the “Salmon Arm salute”. Now we have his potty mouth kid. Alas!
Why would Harper visit here?The ridings are guaranteed conservative.
While Trudeau grew the Canadian debt, Mulroney and Harper made it look like peanuts.
If we had” Progressive” conservatives it may be worth a vote. They lost the “progressive” and became regressive, and they certainly aren’t fiscal conservatives.
Maybe the last liberals transferred the liabilities to the provinces and municipalities, but they paid down the country’s debt. Much more fiscally conservative than the government we have now. Servicing this debt may be crippling if we ever return to rising interest rates.
The federal liberals sit a little right of centre, the other parties more to the extremes. It’s a shame people vote base on party bias, vs checking the facts.
But we will have Conservative, Reform, Alliance, party in the ridings, so please disregard this post. :-)
When Stephen Harper first ran for leadership of the Canadian Aliance Party his first stop was in PG at the Ramada Hotel. I know because I was there and spoke with him. He was impressive at the time and made a lot of sense… He governs nothing like he campaigned back then and it’s a night and day difference. Back then he campaigned on open governance, provincial sovereign rights, triple EEE senate, fiscal accountability, smaller government, getting government out of the advertising business… All of it a complete 180 turn once elected.
The politician Harper wil say anything to get political power. He used PG at the time as an easy entry into the leadership race as a strong reform riding and the support here catipulted him into the leadership. Ever since he could give a twig about this city other than his intention to push though Norhtern Gateway Pipeline, which is the only thing he talked about at the Ramada when he first entered the leadership race that he has stuck too… IMO his entire reason for running in the first places absent all his other broken promises.
I had liked Trudeau too… But this whole idea of him supporting gender based abortion is a poison pill on his leadership. I simply can not support a politician with those values.
We need a none of the above option in federal politics IMO.
JB: “Oh please. If Harper doing a sightseeing tour of BC would change people’s opinion of him, I’m sure he’d do it.”
How would YOU know what motivates him?
He has decided not to visit the city, whereas others have not given us the cold shoulder. That’s a fact. He calculates every move and controls everything at all times so it is not an oversight.
There is a difference between condoning a practice such as gender selective abortion, which Trudeau has said he does not do, and saying that such choice is a Charter Right and not wishing to infringe on those rights.
There are exceptions in the Charter. Maybe Harbinger can join with Eagleone to test it in court.
Aside from that, I do not think that abortion is a municipal issue quite yet.
So gender based abortion is a choice protected now by the charter? Good lord do these people have any moral compass what so ever? Does Canada want to be in league with the likes of Pakistan and India now?
I think at least four million Canadians that didn’t make it out of the womb would beg to differ on artisans view of the charter of rights.
Btw it is no a municipal issue. It is an issue of the integrity of federal leadership.
Integrity of leadership? Notwithstanding on any guvmint level. IMO.
I see Trudeauâs stance on the abortion issue raises its head in a few comments on this thread. Of course Christian Conservatives will call it âgender based abortionâ, however the rest of us call it what it really is; defending our countryâs Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a womanâs ârightâ to choose!
Go ahead and vote Conservative again, because the reality of the situation is; Harper has had YEARS to address the abortion issue on behalf of his Christian Conservative base, yet he continues, and will continue, to avoid the abortion issue like the plague. In Justine Trudeau, we at least have someone in a leadership position who has the âballsâ to take a stand on the abortion issue, whereas Harper continues to show us he just doesnât have any!!!
That’s nonsense, BeingHuman. Harper hasn’t ‘dictated’ on the abortion issue, which was voted on in a ‘free vote’ in the House of Commons in favour of things as they presently stand. So what do you want him to do, insist that all the Conservative MPs use their majority to ban abortion? Just so you can use that to re-inforce your view of him as a dictator? Harper has been far more in tune with what the people of this country really want than young Trudeau, who panders to a mouthy minority of elitists who are all sure they know better than we do what’s best for us. Harper’s far from perfect, but by far the best of the choices we have for PM.
“PG: How would YOU know what motivates him?”
How do YOU know how Harper sees this region in terms of importance? Besides, someone else nailed it… this is a Conservative stronghold riding. If this were a strong NDP or Liberal riding, you wouldn’t be seeing those guys either.
That remains to be seen!
Harper is far from perfect. To be found in contempt of parliament is something else, however, if my recollection is accurate.
To the contrary socredible, Harper has been an absolute dictator towards any of his MPâs who would dare try and raise the abortion issue, either for or against, in the house of commons. Langley Conservative MP Mark Warawa is a case in point;
âOn Thursday, Warawa intends to stand up in the House to talk about female âgendercideâ â the systematic killing of women, which includes âabortingâ females… If Warawa succeeds, it will be the culmination of a story about the battle for power in Parliament, and the role of MPs in representing their constituents outside of party control.â
So what happened on that Thursday, we would ask? Warawa stood up and gave a statement about a âtalent contestâ in his Langley, B.C. riding! You just donât get it do you socredible, when Harper says the abortion issue will not be the subject of debate, no one, and I mean absolutely no one, in his government is allowed to make public statements about it from either side of the debate. Thatâs what I call dictatorship!
I like what Justine Trudeau has done, he has further âdefinedâ his party as being firmly âpro-choiceâ and one that stands behind and for our Countryâs Charter of Rights and Freedoms. So where does the Conservative Party of Canada stand on the issue of abortion? No one knows, and no one will ever know!
Perhaps the Pro-life people should have a Political Party that supports their point-of-view, and values? At any rate we know that Political Party is NOT the Conservative Party of Canada, why? Because the CPC is neither for or against it, and refuses to even talk about it!!!
http://globalnews.ca/news/540917/conservative-mp-who-set-off-backbench-revolt-finally-set-to-speak-about-abortion/
You’re right on the Harper flip flop Eagleone.
Open and accountable government…fail
Never run a deficit, ever……..fail
“Omnibus bills are undemocratic and a contradiction and conventions of the practices of the House” yet Harper has pushed some of the largest one through….fail
“There will only be a recession in Canada if you elect the other guy” fail
Rework or abolish the senate…..instead stack it with embarrassing, corrupt, cronies… Fail
Small government?…..2nd largest in Canadian history, I think…..fail
Add in muzzling of scientist, jeopardizing salmon bearing streams, an all out war on science and information,and some of the largest debt in Canadian history……what’s not to like?
I’ve heard all this crap about Harper for years now. I was at the meeting at the Ramanda when Harper was there. So in fact he did visit Prince George.
You don’t start a political party from scratch and become the Government of the day and Prime Minister, without having something on the ball. Harper did this, to the chagrin of the **lazy** NDP, and the **corrupt** Liberals. They have been whining and crying ever since.
All it takes for Harper to form the next Government if for him to get the same people who voted for him the last time to vote for him again. I think he can do that with little difficulty.
I think we can say with some assurance, that those who knock Harper on a continuous basis never voted for him in the first place, so he is not exactly waiting for them to vote for him this time around.
Next election the perennial also rans (the NDP) will lose seats. The blow hard, idea challenged Liberals will pick up a few seats, and Harper will form the Government.
Have a nice day,.
I think you forgot about the NDP vote in Quebec which is more likely to go Liberal than Conservative.
The Ontario vote will give some indication of which way they will go.
The rest of the country can pound sand, as usual.
As far as moral compass goes, everyone has their own based on their religious and other beliefs. That is the whole point Trudeau is making. That is the whole point the charter is making.
Canada is not a religious dictatorship.
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