Liberal candidate Chrystia Freeland visits Edmonton

With just one week left before the Liberal race concludes, candidate Chrystia Freeland stopped in Edmonton on Saturday, trying to secure more votes within the party.

“I’m a true northern Alberta girl,” said Freeland. I’m so proud of our province. I’m so proud of the liberals here. I’m so glad to be in Edmonton.”

Canada’s former finance minister grew up in Peace River, Alberta and attended this Edmonton high school for two years. Speaking to supporters, Freeland says her priority is for the liberals to have a stronger presence in Alberta.  

“I love Alberta,” said Freeland. “You have my commitment that as leader of the Liberal Party I will be sure we are a party that is present in Alberta, that speaks for Alberta, that understands Alberta and that wins in Alberta.”

Edmontontonians reacted to Freeland’s short visit to Edmonton.

“To me, she represents what Justin Trudeau order was,” said one Edmontontonian. “And I think the Liberal Party of Canada what they need to do is move on from that.”

“She has good support but I think Carney probably has better presence maybe and no black marks on him yet,” said another Edmontontonian.

Freeland’s stop in Edmonton comes nearly two months after leadership rival Mark Carney announced his candidacy in Edmonton.

“Anyone living in Alberta knows that we don’t care for federal politics, so I think it’s a smart move from the Liberal Party to focus their attention on Alberta,” said one local.

“The whole Albertan western-eastern thing,” said another local. “I’ve never felt that or seen that.”

Freeland resigned from cabinet on Dec. 16. Then a month later she launched her campaign to become the next Liberal leader and to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

“Let’s take a moment to be proud what we accomplished as a government,” said Freeland.

Freeland was the foreign affairs minister for the first three years of U.S. President Donald Trump’s last term. She’s positioning herself as the candidate who is ready to stand up for the country and take on Trump.

“He had some mean things to say to us last time too,” said Freeland. “He actually imposed tariffs on our steel and aluminum. And we beat him. We won. We retaliated dollar for dollar for his tariffs and you know what he did unilaterally he lifted them. So, we did it before we can do it again.”

“They’ve got to get free trade across Canada,” said one local.  “Whether it’s pipelines or products. We’ve got to break down those barriers. We have got to build more of our own manufacturing.”

She is among four candidates in the running to become the next leader of the liberal party and prime minister of Canada. The liberals will choose a new leader to succeed prime minister Justin Trudeau on march 9.