Prime Minister announces a new tax program for the country's working class.

News 100 redBy Staff

October 29, 2017

BURLINGTON, ON

 

The Prime Minister was in town.

He spent a couple of hours at the YMCA meeting with people who are taking part in a YMCA Employment Services program and then making an announcement that has national implications.
Burlington is now a Liberal friendly city and the crowds were adoring.

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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau being greeted at the Burlington YMCA

These Prime Ministerial tours are major productions with support teams that that amount to more than 25 people.

Security is thick – but not obtrusive.

For the first time in my experience I saw RCMP officers carrying rifles in special back backs that don’t give away what is inside them – these men are sharp shooters.

Easily ten plain clothes police – they are ranked by how close they can get to the Prime Minister. Each wear a button – a pin in their lapel – red ones mean they get close – they surround the PM – you have to get past them to get near the PM. The black ones are at the rear of the room.

There is always one, usually a nervous looking young man standing right beside the PM. It is a well-orchestrated event.

The first part of the visit had the Prime Minister in the lower level of the YMCA talking one on one with people taking part in the YMCA Employment Services program

As structured as the event itself was the Prime Minister didn’t seem to be WORD – he walked into the room – no one said a word – there was no applause. He was greeted by the head of the YMCA and asked a few questions and then began talking to the dozen or so people who were enrolled in the Employment Services program. Each was sitting in front of a computer monitor so the Prime Minister dropped to a squat and was able to talk directly – eye to eye to each person.

PM with students Oct 2017He spent a good fifteen minutes going from person to person – asking what they were looking for in the way of work and the kind of help they were getting.

It was quiet – the only thing that made it a bit unreal was the dozens of photographers and television camera operators hovering.

There was no grandstanding on the part of the PM – he was just in the room talking to people. His communications support people – there were easily six – maybe eight of them – were everywhere paying attention to the details – there had to be a glass of water at the podium and it had to be in a clear glass. .

When all the students had been talked to the PM said a few words and headed for another room where there was a group of about 75 people, all invited, in a room that had Canadian Flags and a backdrop of Canadian flags and a podium for the Prime Minister to speak from.

Justin Trudeau at YMCA

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau meeting and greeting at the Burlington YMCA

Television cameras from every network in the country were lined up. The PM announced a 2019 federal investment of $500 million toward the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB).

Trudeau also announced a 2019 federal investment of $500 million toward the Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB). The Working Income Tax Benefit (WITB) will help those folks who are working hard to make ends meet and who are still struggling at the lower end of the income scale.”

With the speeches done the Prime Minister chatted with the invited guests then headed into the foyer of the YMCA where there were close to 100 people waiting to see him. Babies were held up for a Prime Ministerial kiss – two that we saw – and then out into the street where vehicles were waiting.

To ensure that this was a truly Burlington event there was one lone protester holding up a Save Bateman sign.

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3 comments to Prime Minister announces a new tax program for the country’s working class.

  • Phillip

    Ah–sunny ways, and now for his most important announcement, “Check out my socks”.
    Did he talk about Bill Morneau or the massive deficit?!? Didn’t think so!

  • Stephen White

    I would suggest that Burlington isn’t quite as “Liberal friendly” as one might expect. When Andrew Scheer was in town the week before over 400 people turned out to see him….on a Friday evening no less.

    The bloom is quickly fading on the PM’s sunny disposition, and things aren’t helped by his hapless, arrogant Finance Minister whose lack of transparency and dubious integrity are negatively impacting the government’s popularity.

    Interesting that there was no mention of our MP in this article. Probably faded to obscurity….kind of like the Liberal government’s commitment to democratic reform. Maybe she’s still shell shocked from the negative public reaction to the tax changes on small business…another botched initiative.

    • Phillip

      I almost hate to admit it but in the last federal election I voted for Ms. Gould; like many Conservatives, I had grown tired of Harper and locally, I was tired with our inert MP. With Liberals there is always a concern with fiscal mismanagement, but Sunny Ways deceived me when he spoke about small deficits quickly returning to surplus–I should have known that since a Liberal’s lips were moving, he was lying. In the next election, I suspect that many Conservative voters will return to the fold in this largely Conservative riding–Trudeau is slowly destroying Canada.