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Liberal Party Leader Justin Trudeau made his first stop in Saskatchewan on the federal campaign trail on Thursday evening, hosting a town hall in Saskatoon amid a cloud of controversy.
The event, held at the Delta Bessborough, was originally intended to be a raucous campaign rally with Liberal Party faithful — but Trudeau’s camp switched gears Thursday morning after photos and video of Trudeau in brownface and blackface surfaced over the course of several hours.
He arrived in Saskatoon after a lengthy media availability in Winnipeg, where he repeatedly apologized for his actions and asked Canadians to forgive him.
Hundreds of people, many of whom were Liberal Party volunteers and members, packed into the ballroom to hear Trudeau respond to questions for just over an hour.
The Liberal leader was welcomed with cheers and was served up an easy question of “What’s it like to be prime minister?” from a child, but not long after Trudeau was faced with a man who grilled him over the brownface scandal.
“Earlier today you were questioned about how many times you have appeared in blackface or brownface. I’ll make it easy — is it possible to round to the nearest five?” the man asked.
Trudeau responded by repeating his apologies to visible minorities for his actions.
“There is no way to sugarcoat it, it is something I did wrong,” he said. “I lacked respect towards people who already face tremendous discrimination, and that is something I apologize for.”
Realize now the full video didn't post. Here's the full Q and A. You hear a man applaud the #brownface Q. That man was eventually asked to leave by security. A couple Liberal supporters boo and say "shame". #yxe #cdnpoli #elxn43 pic.twitter.com/gjDGW9GpHP
— Chris Vandenbreekel (@Vandecision) September 20, 2019
A second man who high-fived the person who challenged Trudeau on the controversy was eventually led out of the town hall by security.
The brownface controversy was last addressed moments later, when Federation of Sovereign Indian Nations Vice-Chief David Pratt opened his comments with a reference to the photographs and Trudeau’s response.
“I accept your apology,” Pratt said, before moving on to questions about Indigenous child welfare and land claims.
Supporters say controversy is ‘overblown’
Liberal Party members and Trudeau supporters lined up for nearly one hour to get into the campaign event, many wearing red with Trudeau buttons attached.
When asked about the brownface controversy swirling around the Liberal leader, many said the situation wasn’t as severe as some were making it out to be.
“I thought it was perhaps in poor taste, but that’s about as far as it went for me,” said Indy Sanbasivam, whose brother works as a policy adviser for the Liberals.
“If everyone got their poor decisions broadcast all over the air, we’d look pretty stupid too.”
Andrea Russell said while it “sucks” that Trudeau had worn brownface makeup in the past, it shouldn’t detract from the policies being debated through the election.
“It’s a silly thing he did, but it doesn’t affect his policies in the grand scheme of things,” she said.
Trudeau applauds Sask. innovation, but criticizes position on carbon tax
Later in the town hall, Trudeau was asked by a young volunteer about his climate change policies.
He took the opportunity to discuss the Liberal carbon tax plan, touting the tax rebates to families associated with the program.
He also criticized the Saskatchewan provincial government’s “resistance” to the tax, noting the province is using taxpayer dollars to fight the plan in court.
Trudeau connected the pushback to that of other conservative parties, including Andrew Scheer’s Conservative Party of Canada.
“Conservative premiers get elected on promises to do less on fighting climate change, to do less on investing in a low carbon future,” Trudeau said.
“That decision that Andrew Scheer is leading on, that desire to make pollution free again, is a real problem.”
Trudeau added there are opportunities in a low carbon future, pointing to the research on carbon capture storage in Saskatchewan.
“The science that Canadians have been able to put at their fingertips, to create better solutions that we can then export to the world, is something we should be taking advantage of — not hiding from,” he said.
After the town hall, Trudeau and his campaign boarded their plane to head back to Toronto ahead of more planned campaign stops in Ontario on Friday.
