Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the only way to get projects like the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion built is by finding compromise between growing the economy and protecting the environment.
Trudeau was speaking at a reception for Liberal Party donors during the Calgary Stampede, where he had fewer public appearances than in past years.
The prime minister took aim at his conservative opponents in his remarks to dozens of party faithful in a downtown Calgary cafe.
He says these days a government can’t just dictate where a pipeline will be built like Canada’s first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, did for the railroad.
Earlier in the day Trudeau greeted crowds and served pancakes at a community Stampede breakfast in the riding of Calgary’s only Liberal MP, Kent Hehr.
There, university student Isabelle Reynolds confronted Trudeau over the treatment of Mi’kmaq opponents of a Nova Scotia natural gas project.
Trudeau told her he had been listening to concerns over the project, but Reynolds told reporters afterward she was not satisfied with the prime minister’s response.
A small group of yellow-vest-clad demonstrators held anti-Trudeau signs outside the donor event.
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The Canadian Press
