Gregor Robertson welcomed Trudeau to Vancouver for the first time since he was elected prime minister, and his comments signalled a new partnership between cities and Ottawa.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated that stance on Thursday, telling reporters, “I’ve been saying for years that the Great Bear Rainforest is no place for an oil pipeline, (and) that continues to be my position”.
“One of my own personal touch points on this is, if I can’t handle a little scrutiny – I mean listen, we’re going to have bad days where I won’t want to talk to you guys for specific reasons that you guys may know or may not know, I don’t know – we always know there are cycles in this. But for me they were just not the ways I wanted to use, because I felt it bound you too much to a mode that inhibited your ability to govern for everyone”.
It’s the first time a sitting Prime Minister has made the visit since his father in 1973.
“We want to be a partner with municipalities on creating the opportunities for growth and better quality of life for Canadians on transit and on housing, and that’s what we’re engaging on.”
Robertson handed Trudeau a photo of the senior Trudeau’s visit 42 years ago.
The message was one of change.
“We don’t feel that Ottawa should be dictating what particular transit project is going to be needed by the people of Vancouver”.
Now Vancouver must wait to see if Trudeau delivers on promises like building a Broadway subway line, which requires change to the current funding formula. “The people to figure that out best are here in this room”.
For his part, Mayor Robertson said it will be a relief to have the burden of marijuana regulation taken off the city’s shoulders, especially with the number of dispensaries that have sprung up around Vancouver in recent years.
“Vancouver, like cities across the country, will now have a partner in the federal government on issues of housing, on issues of public transit specifically”, he said.
More than three hundred people waited an hour in the snow and rain for a glimpse of the new prime minister, who staged the event – a meeting with Mayor Gregor Robertson and a news conference – with no clear objective other than to ostensibly signal his government is on the same page as Vancouver’s. Trudeau’s Liberal get together defeated former Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s Conservative social gathering within the October election.
It’s music to Robertson’s ears.
“There were no thoughtful controls coming from Ottawa historically, so it’s a relief to hear a prime minister’s commitment along with the attorney general and minister of justice”.
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But when asked when that funding would come through, he instead said cities will need to apply for access to the $20 billion his government has committed in infrastructure funding over the next 10 years.
