CALGARY -- His father was once persona non grata in Alberta. But Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau believes he can sweep that aside and capitalize on presumptions about the province's political leanings.
Trudeau pointed to the provincial NDP majority victory earlier this year as evidence that Albertans are fed up with the status quo federally.
"For 10 years, Mr. Harper has pretended that he was the best friend Alberta could ever have in Ottawa," Trudeau said Wednesday in Calgary.
"But he has failed Alberta. He missed an entire boom cycle, didn't get any of the projects needed that we needed to build here and has quite frankly left Albertans aside in the kinds of growth and infrastructure support that we know growing cities like Calgary and Edmonton actually need.
"It is time Albertans know that they don't have to be taken for granted anymore."
Trudeau's pitch to Alberta is a gamble, albeit a calculated one following Premier Rachel Notley's commanding win in May.
It also comes in a province where his father's implementation of a national energy program in the early 1980s salted the earth for Liberals for years.
Earlier Wednesday, Trudeau made promises to beef up flood infrastructure in Calgary before preparing for a key leader's debate on the economy.
Trudeau said his party would provide unspecified funding to prevent flooding and spend $1.5 million on public transit in the city.
He made the announcement before meeting with Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi.
All three party leaders are in the city in advance of the debate on Thursday.
Trudeau is expected to spend much of the day preparing for the debate, which many say is a crucial one for him.
Trudeau has been on the defensive over his plan to run three years of deficits -- even after figures show the government posted a $1.9 billion surplus in the 2014-15 fiscal year.
For the second day in a row, he declined to say when the Liberals would release a fully costed platform, instead pointing to a fiscal framework he says lays out the party's spending plans.
