Liberal leader Justin Trudeau made a campaign stop in Oakville on Sunday night to rally the Liberal faithful in Oakville, Burlington, Milton, and Mississauga.
Supporters filled Ninth Line’s Five Drive-In, honking car horns and cheering on Trudeau and local Liberal candidates, including Oakville’s Anita Anand and Oakville North-Burlington’s Pam Damoff.
With the heavy rain forecast for the evening holding off, Trudeau took the stage to promote his government’s record through the pandemic.
“There were no off-the-shelf solutions, so those of us in government rolled up our sleeves and worked hard day and night,” he said.
Trudeau credited Liberal economic supports for allowing Canada to recover 95 percent of jobs lost during COVID compared to only 76 percent in the United States.
Along with investments in health care across the country, Trudeau said, “our minister of vaccines, Anita Anand made sure that every single Canadian could get vaccinated.”
Promising that “brighter times are just around the bend,” he said the Liberals would continue to move Canada forward while the Conservatives under Erin O’Toole would take the country backwards.
Criticizing O’Toole’s refusal to enforce mandatory vaccination for travellers or even his own candidates, Trudeau said the Conservatives are making policies that work for “the far right anti-vax wing of the party.”
He also gave a shout-out to Damoff for standing up to the gun lobby, which he said has been campaigning against Liberals.
“I have news for them,” Trudeau said. “Pam Damoff is not going to back down on gun control – she never will, and neither will we.”
Urging supporters to continue to work to get out the vote, Trudeau said the Liberals are “the best progressive choice and the only progressive party that can stop the Conservatives from taking us backwards.”
Anand told the crowd that she wants to see 5 to 11-year-olds get vaccinated and Canadians get booster shots, but to accomplish that, the country needs to continue with its current procurement.