VANCOUVER -- Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau campaigned in British Columbia Wednesday, hoping promises to train more firefighters and better equip them will overcome pushback in the province over an early election call while wildfires continue to rage.
"I know this has been a really tough time for people across the province," Trudeau said, on a terrace overlooking Vancouver Harbour.
On top of the COVID-19 pandemic, B.C. was hit with record-smashing heat waves earlier this summer, and hundreds of wildfires continue to burn around the province.
"The air has been orange even here in the Lower Mainland," Trudeau said.
Trudeau said a re-elected Liberal government will spend half a billion dollars to train 1,000 new firefighters, and help provinces buy new equipment to battle wildfires, including Canadian-made firefighter aircraft.
He is also promising a new auditing program so homeowners can assess their readiness to withstand extreme weather, and add climate-resilience upgrades to the list of eligible home improvements under existing federal home improvement grant programs.
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, running for re-election in North Vancouver, was among the local candidates flanking Trudeau during the announcement Wednesday. He said the events of this summer have really pushed the urgency of climate action to the forefront, including Canada's heat waves and fires, and floods which killed nearly 200 people in Germany in July.
The Liberals have taken heat for calling an early election while B.C. is still in a state of emergency because of fires.
Cooler and rainy weather have helped the fire fight in B.C. in recent days, but there are still 36 evacuation orders in effect and 261 active fires including 31 classified as a threat to the public.
Less than 24 hours before Trudeau arrived in Vancouver, the province extended its state of emergency until the end of August.
B.C. has long been a battleground for federal elections, and the Liberals are looking to take back the six seats they lost in 2019 to Conservatives and their own former justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould.
Trudeau has mainly hit up ridings held by Conservative and Bloc Quebecois MPs thus far in the campaign.
On Wednesday afternoon, he stopped by a bistro in the riding of Cloverdale-Langley City, in B.C's Lower Mainland, a riding the Liberals want to take back. In 2019, Liberal MP John Aldag narrowly lost the seat to Conservative Tamara Jansen.
Trudeau pulled a few beers for some Liberal supporters gathered but also drew in fans who just happened to be on the street. One woman came running out of nearby hair salon, her hair half-dyed and still in foils and nabbed a picture with him on the street corner.
About 20 anti-mask and anti-vaccine protesters showed up outside the Vancouver Convention Centre during Trudeau's morning event Wednesday, in what is becoming a daily occurrence for the Liberal campaign. However, this time they did not have a chance to confront him, as he entered the building through a different door.
On Tuesday in Aurora, Ont., Trudeau pushed right back at a small number of protesters by yelling at them to "please get vaccinated."
Trudeau said Wednesday that his policy requiring vaccinations in federally regulated industries will allow zero exceptions for people flying on planes or taking passenger trains.
"Canadians know that the way to get through this pandemic is for everyone to get vaccinated, so unless people have a medical exception, they will not be able to board a plane or a train in Canada," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2021.
