The Oakville and Burlington Chamber of Commerce hosted Justin Trudeau, Leader of the Federal Liberal Party. Mr. Trudeau met with the Board of Directors to outline how the Liberal Party can help local businesses create prosperity and achieve economic success. He iterated, the role the federal government should play to create prosperity for middle class Canadians, emphasizing the significant contributions that businesses make to local communities.
“We are thrilled that the Oakville Chamber was able to meet with the Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada,” said Chamber Chair, Kerry Colborne. “This was the first time we hosted an event with Mr. Trudeau and it provided a valuable opportunity for representatives of the local business community to share thoughts and concerns with him and learn how the Liberal Party would address them. The Key take-away for me was that it was a wonderful opportunity to get to know Justin Trudeau as a person and to understand his positions on the many issues facing Canada.”
“It speaks to the strength of the Burlington and Oakville business community that the Federal Leader of the Liberal Party chose to meet here” according to Burlington Chamber Chair, Jean MacKinnon. “The Chamber Directors made clear those issues most relevant to our business communities during the Question and Answer period with Justin Trudeau.”They touched upon issues spanning the auto sector, education, natural resource extraction, the housing market, productivity, and cross-border trade.
After the meeting with the Chamber Board of Directors, the press was given the opportunity to ask questions. Troops in the Ukraine and Canada’s relationship with Russia dominated this discussion and clear answers to these situations may have been difficult to answer on the spur of the moment. Mr. Trudeau did not share much about how the Liberal Party could make changes to the situation in the Ukraine.
Kevin Flynn, MPP Oakville feels that “Mr. Trudeau’s approach to politics is very refreshing when compared to that taken by Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Canadians have become jaded by Mr. Harper’s heavy handed tactics. Justin offers a very credible alternative that would ensure Ontarians feel safe and secure, and that Ontario’s economic interests are protected.”
Politically, the Oakville and Burlington Chambers of Commerce are strictly non-partisan; they work with all the major political parties, elected officials, and senior staff at all four levels of government.