WATCH ABOVE: Vassy Kapelos reports on the federal Liberals’ summer caucus in Edmonton.
EDMONTON – Federal Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau paid tribute to what he called Alberta’s “entrepreneurial spirit” as he took the stage during a rally in a downtown Edmonton park Tuesday.
Trudeau says it’s Alberta’s drive to succeed that turns “resource opportunities” into economic realities” and attracts people from across Canada and around the world.
But he says too many parts of the country aren’t sharing in the same success. He also says that public services for people in Alberta need to keep pace with the growth it is experiencing.
Trudeau and the Liberal caucus are in Edmonton for their summer retreat.
The federal Liberals have no seats in Alberta, but the rally still drew close to 300 people who waited for an hour for the events to begin, and who lingered long afterward for photos with Trudeau.
The Liberals have high hopes of making a breakthrough in Alberta, long a rock-solid Conservative fortress, in the 2015 election. The province has been a wasteland for Liberals for decades, particularly in the wake of the reviled national energy program, introduced by the government of Trudeau’s late father, Pierre, in 1980.
Trudeau insisted Tuesday that Albertans are more interested in current issues, like pipelines, than they are in the past.
Trudeau blasts Harper for bungling pipelines needed by Alberta
He said Prime Minister Stephen Harper has failed to protect the interests his home province, which desperately needs pipelines to get its oilsands bitumen to offshore markets.
“There is a concern, especially here in Alberta, about energy policy, yes,” Trudeau said outside the caucus retreat.
“But it’s very much focused on the fact that, for all Mr. Harper’s talk about the economy and natural resources, he’s been all hat and no cattle on pipelines.
“We are no closer to getting the two main pipelines that he’s been pushing – Keystone XL and Northern Gateway – passed than we were on the very first day he was in office. Indeed, we’re further (away).”
WATCH: Full exclusive interview with Justin Trudeau
Keystone, which would pipe oilsands bitumen to the U.S. Gulf Coast, is stalled pending approval from President Barack Obama, who is under pressure from environmentalists to nix the project.
READ MORE: U.S. imposes new conditions on Keystone pipeline construction
Trudeau said Harper has botched the Keystone file and mismanaged relations with the United States by failing to demonstrate he’s serious about developing the oilsands in an environmentally responsible way.
Harper has also bungled Northern Gateway, which would pipe oilsands crude to Kitimat, B.C., Trudeau asserted. He said the prime minister has been little more than a “cheerleader” for the project “rather than being a responsible referee” dedicated to ensuring the concerns of First Nations and other effected communities are addressed.
Trudeau is an enthusiastic supporter of Keystone but is adamantly opposed to Northern Gateway. He’s willing to consider the proposed Kinder Morgan trans-mountain pipeline to Burnaby, B.C., provided it passes environmental muster and gets buy-in from effected communities.
Trudeau brushes off questions about lingering resentment over father’s national energy program
The Liberal leader repeated the vow he made in the past to never use “western resources to buy eastern votes.”
Trudeau said he’s more preoccupied with his children’s future “than my dad’s legacy.” Nor are Albertans interested in rehashing the past, he argued, adding that only journalists and political opponents raise the national energy program.
“I think they’re running against the wrong Trudeau.”
The biggest challenge for Liberals in Alberta and elsewhere, Trudeau said, is overcoming cynicism about politicians.
“The challenge is to restore trust in federal politics … For too long, we’ve seen federal politicians fighting each other and taking positions based on vote-catching rather than the public good.”
The next election
The Liberals currently have no seats in Alberta but are hoping to win as many as six of the 34 seats that will be up for grabs in 2015. Trudeau acknowledged his party, reduced to a third party rump in 2011, still has “a lot of work to do,” both in Alberta and the rest of the country, to win the next election.
Under the fixed date election law passed by Harper’s government, the next election is scheduled for Oct. 19, 2015. But Trudeau said Liberals are preparing for an election as early as next spring.
“Mr. Harper has not once followed his own fixed-election-date law in the setting of elections, so I think it’s only prudent to try and make sure that we’re going to be ready,” he said.
Security concerns
On a personal note, Trudeau refused to say Tuesday whether he believes he and his family need a police security detail after his Ottawa home was broken into on the weekend while his wife and three young children slept.
READ MORE: Justin Trudeau re-evaluating travel schedule after Ottawa home broken into with family inside
The RCMP are investigating the incident and conducting a threat assessment, at Trudeau’s request, to determine what, if any, special protective measures should be taken.
“I certainly am not going to second-guess the RCMP’s expertise and look forward to the results of their investigation,” Trudeau said.
With files from Global News
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