Every town hall begins the same way: Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrives in a blue or white shirt with rolled-up sleeves, takes the microphone, waxes poetic about the state of the world, and acknowledges the challenging years Canadians have recently faced.
The people in the crowd who will have the chance to ask unvetted questions of the prime minister are no stranger to those struggles.
There’s the Muslim mother who fears for the safety of her children. Immigrants who worry about their future in Canada. The blue-collar worker who can’t afford to eat. People who can’t find work or access mental-health supports. Young adults who lose sleep over climate change. Indigenous people who say they feel left behind.
At the 14 hour-long town halls Trudeau has attended in the past 11 weeks, the prime minister has put himself in a position to hear their concerns during the question-and-answer sessions that follow his speeches.
But though some attendees who participated in the events said they were encouraged by Trudeau’s efforts, others found themselves cynical about whether he and his government were actually listening.
For Trudeau, it’s a familiar format _ and one that some pundits say could serve the party well, even if its utility to the broader public is in question.
“This is something I love doing,” Trudeau said to a group of tradespeople in Winnipeg earlier this week.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020, the prime minister had been limited with his interactions with the public because of public-health measures that kept people distanced from one another.
“I’m betting that he was itching to do these during the whole pandemic and during the 2021 (election) campaign, because for the most part he couldn’t do it,” said Philippe J. Fournier, the polling analyst behind the 338Canada poll website.
“I’m thinking that he’s really happy to be back on the road. This is what he does best.”
But after nearly eight years in office, Trudeau faces a different political culture.
Fournier pointed out that in 2016, Trudeau was treated like a rock star when he would visit places such as Mississauga, Ont. _ but when he ran for a third mandate in 2021, he was met with angry protesters at many campaign stops.
One man in London, Ont., even threw rocks at him.
“The country changed,” Fournier said. “People are angry out there and would take a shot at him if they could.”
So while Trudeau used to attend town hall events that members of the general public could attend, his office said it has had to change the format because of new security threats.
To set up the tour, the Prime Minister’s Office reached out to specific special-interest groups _ such as unions, universities and businesses _ asking if they’d like to host a town hall.
Some attendees said it forces people to be respectful because they’re in a professional setting that often links to their workplace.
“We were told that we can ask questions, and feel free to ask some hard questions, but be respectful,” said Christina Brock, who helped organize a town hall in Port Coquitlam, B.C., with trade workers and apprentices who were members of a local union.
The groups who organize the town halls are responsible for the guest lists, but must keep the events under wraps. It’s a way to get around security risks without vetting each member of the audience.
“We had to keep it secret, and be cautious with who was invited,” Brock said.
Most people who are invited to the events don’t know who the speaker is, and are simply told it will be a “high-ranking government official.”
Many Canadians who attended the town halls know it’s a rare opportunity to air their grievances face-to-face with the prime minister, and say they are grateful for the chance.
It’s common for people to live-stream their interactions with him on social media, and swarm him after the event to get a selfie or shake his hand.
When in Winnipeg this week for a University of Manitoba town hall, Trudeau was confronted by a self-proclaimed People’s Party of Canada supporter in an exchange that was recorded by a Reddit user and quickly went viral online.
The young man said the Liberal party’s support of abortion rights made it “against Christianity,” and when the prime minister asked whether women should have the right to “choose what happens to their own bodies,” he replied: “Personally, no.”
The back-and-forth continued, with Trudeau ultimately patting the young man on the shoulder and saying: “Sounds like you need to do a little more thinking, and, and a little more praying on it as well.”
Trudeau received some praise on social media for how he handled the interaction _ and Fournier suggested that’s no surprise.
“Historically, these events have been very kind to Trudeau,” Fournier said. “He’s really good when speaking with people.”
However, Scott Reid, a former senior advisor to Liberal prime minister Paul Martin, cautioned that town halls can become a bubble that are not necessarily reflective of a nation’s mood _ even if there are some political benefits to holding them.
And the excitement of being in a room with the prime minister can quickly wear off.
Tyler Fulton, a cattle rancher in Manitoba, attended a town hall hosted by the Canadian Federation of Agriculture in Ottawa, where he asked a question about preserving prairie grasslands. He called it a good opportunity to engage with the leader, even though he said Trudeau can come across contrived.
But Fulton said that when he tried to reach up to Trudeau’s office to follow up on his concerns, he didn’t get a response.
“If you’re going to have these venues, then you need to follow up,” said Fulton, who also works for the Canadian Cattle Association.
“Otherwise, people just become cynical about the purpose of them.”
At the Port Coquitlam town hall, Brock asked Trudeau a question about mental health, and his answer included a recommendation for people to take a mental health first aid course _ something she’d already done.
She later joked that she should have worn her “mansplaining-free zone.” But she said that she was pleased with the event overall.
“I think it shows a different side of Justin. It makes him more relatable,” Brock said. “I hope that he understands and takes the suffering he hears from people back to Ottawa. If he does that, then it does serve the public.”
At the end of the day, the town halls benefit the Liberal government because it gives Trudeau an opportunity to talk about his agenda and promote what the government has been doing, said Stuart Barnable, senior director of public affairs at Hill+Knowlton Strategies.
“I think that this can only serve to benefit what the Liberals are trying to accomplish,” said Barnable, who also served as a chief of staff to Senate Speaker George Furey.
“They’re setting their narrative,” he said. “Whether or not it resonates with Canadians.”
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The people in the crowd who will have the chance to ask unvetted questions of the prime minister are no stranger to those struggles.
