An Economic Development Consultant says despite concerns over Justin Trudeau’s leadership, he feels he was still pretty good for Atlantic Canada.
President of Jupia Consultants Inc. David Campbell says the Prime Minister helped drive immigration, “The Atlantic immigration pilot, which was put in place in 2017 led to an increase in immigration into this region, which has been very good to address our demographic situation. So there’s been a number of areas where, his government was good for Atlantic Canada, for New Brunswick.”
He believes as we look to the future, whoever moves into those shoes needs to understand that different provinces across the country all have different needs.
“Different economies and different demographic situations. I think Trudeau understood that as much as any prime minister. So whoever takes over it for him, hopefully, will have the same approach.”
Campbell admits though that it probably wasn’t the ideal time for the Prime Minister to step down and throw the leadership into turmoil, because of the challenges the country is currently facing.
“We’ve got the incoming US president who is threatening to put on tariffs. We’ve got some roiling economic challenges nationally and internationally. So, not the best time. But we’ve got to put a good face on it and move forward.”
To some, Trudeau’s announcement was a surprise, while others could see it coming. Campbell says there was pressure mounting, and Trudeau had to follow the will of his party.
But Campbell adds that the real challenge for the Liberals going forward is finding a leader who can compete with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who currently has a lead in the survey polls.
“I think the issue now is, when will the election be called? It probably won’t be called now until March, and then there’ll be an election period. So it’ll probably be April before we before we go to the polls in Canada.”
He believes there’s going to be a period of uncertainty over the next few months.
“Hopefully, we can move forward and get some stability in the national political scene, because in Atlantic Canada and New Brunswick in particular, we’ve got our challenges, and we need to have a strong partner in Ottawa to address those challenges,” Campbell stated.
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