Prime Minister Trudeau asks Calgary voters to give him a chance

The prime minister is looking to make some inroads in Calgary and is hoping voters in the upcoming by-election will give his party a chance.

Justin Trudeau spent much of Wednesday stumping for the Liberal Party’s candidates for Calgary Midnapore and Calgary Heritage.

The two ridings are long-time Tory strongholds and were vacated by former Prime Minister Stephen Harper and one of his deputies Jason Kenney.

Trudeau spent the afternoon thanking volunteers for their efforts in the campaign and even sat down at a telephone to chat with a few prospective voters.

He made it clear to reporters, he doesn’t believe in Calgary’s conservative label.

“We have done the right things over the past year for Calgary, for Alberta and for Canada. We’ve invested in the Canada Child Benefit that’s going to help nine out of ten Canadian families, we’ve lowered taxes on the middle class and raised them on the wealthiest one per cent which actually the Conservative Party voted against, we’ve made massive investments in infrastructure including right here in Calgary for public transit and flood mitigation and waste water treatment that’s going to be very, very important for people in Calgary,” he said.

“And we did one thing the previous government for all its chest-thumping for being pro-Alberta was unable to do, we actually got pipelines approved.”

Trudeau would carry forward that platform later Wednesday night at a rally at the BMO Centre with hundreds of his party’s supporters and prospective voters.

“No corner of this country can be taken for granted, no corner of this country can be ignored,” shouted Trudeau over the crowd.

The prime minister says he knows Alberta has fallen on some tough times following the collapse of oil and vowed Canada will support Alberta in its darkest hour.

“You have supported Canada for so long, Canada will be there to support all of you,” he pledged. “I keep coming back to Alberta, I keep coming back to Calgary – this is my sixth trip as prime minister – I’ve been about a dozen times to Alberta and I’m going to keep coming back no matter what people say because Alberta matters.”

“The Conservatives here in Alberta want you to think that this is good enough, it can get better than that, well I’m sorry my friends, this is Calgary and in Calgary better is always possible.”

There were some supporters who waited upwards of four hours for a glimpse of Trudeau and a chance to shake his hand.

The message appeared to strike a chord with most who chatted to 660 NEWS afterwards.

“Working in the oil and gas industry, the most important thing that everyone wants to know is about the economy and jobs and stuff but at the same time he said he’s going to do something about the environment, which is important,” said Venkatesh, a Calgary Heritage voter.

“It was fantastic, so much energy in the room, just what we need in Alberta,” said Liberal supporter Kara.

One woman said she didn’t appreciate having to wait upwards of four hours for just a brief appearance, she declined our request for an interview.

The Liberals won two seats in Calgary in the 2015 election – the first in the city since 1968.

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