MP hopes to see Trudeau in Yellowknife next month
Prime Minister's Office yet to confirm plans; separate trip North expected to meet territorial premiers
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Friday, January 27, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Northwest Territories MP Michael McLeod says he's working to get Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to visit Yellowknife and potentially other communities next month, though the trip has not been confirmed.
Justin Trudeau, centre, and his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau make their entrance at Mildred Hall School during a campaign stop in Yellowknife on Oct. 9, 2015. The prime minister is expected to return to the city next month. - NNSL file photo |
"We're trying to work with him to see if we can schedule a visit to the North," McLeod said in an interview Wednesday.
"We don't have anything nailed down, but we'd like to do it sometime in February."
A February trip would be in the middle of a House of Commons sitting that starts Monday. The trip would be an extension of Trudeau's cross-country tour that began Jan. 12 with informal stops in coffee shops town hall events. When the tour was announced, the schedule didn't appear to include any Northern stops.
"At this stage, we are hoping to include the North in the prime minister's upcoming tour, and are currently working to make that happen," stated Cameron Ahmad, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister's Office, in an e-mail Jan. 9 to Yellowknifer. "Details will be confirmed later on."
The Prime Minister's Office did not respond to requests for comment this week.
Trudeau's visit would be his first to the North since the federal election campaign when all three territories elected Liberal MPs. He held a campaign event at Mildred Hall School on Oct. 9, 2015.
Former Conservative prime minister Stephen Harper used to make an annual visit to the North, though they were derided as largely photo ops.
McLeod said it's too soon to say if a visit would be limited to just Yellowknife.
"My preference would be to hit a couple places in the North but his schedule is pretty tight," McLeod said, adding he's encouraging Trudeau to visit several places.
It's not clear whether Trudeau would meet with territorial and indigenous leaders while here.
Territorial cabinet spokesperson Andrew Livingstone said he had no information about the prime minister's plans.
Premier Bob McLeod, brother of MP McLeod, has recently been critical of the prime minister's decision to indefinitely ban oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean without consulting Northern leaders. In a December interview about the ban, the premier said Trudeau agreed to meet with territorial premiers early in the new year to discuss the issue. The premier said he hoped that meeting could take place in the North.
The MP said a separate trip is being planned for the prime minister to meet with the three territorial premiers.
