The man seen as the only contender to beat Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the next federal election wants to know what Squamish thinks.
Sea to Sky Corridor residents are invited to make themselves heard at Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff's Town Hall meeting at the Sea to Sky Hotel Friday (March 27) from 7 to 8:30 p.m.
And Liberal candidate for the West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky riding, Ian Sutherland, said he hopes locals come out to express their thoughts.
"Our leader has said that he wants to meet as many people as possible from as many parts of the country as possible, and that's really the result of this," said Sutherland. "He wants to hear back from the people who live in Squamish about what they see as being critical for the future of the country."
Sutherland said there will be opportunities for questions and suggestions, and the visit shows the party is living up to its promise to stay in touch with the region's citizens. "We said that we're going to be active even after the election," said Sutherland. "Mr. Ignatieff is in Vancouver for a dinner on Thursday night, so we put a request in for him to visit the riding, and preferably to visit Squamish, and he agreed to do that. So we're very excited obviously."
Through his own visit of the riding's communities, Sutherland said, he's got sense of what the region's priorities and concerns are.
"Certainly infrastructure is on everyone's list and how best to access that money. Obviously the economy is a big concern for people in general. How do you take advantage of the programs that are available? How do you truly make projects happen to benefit the people in the corridor?"
This is also a top concern for the Liberal leader, said Sutherland."Mr. Ignatieff has said he wants to make sure the government follows through on what they say they're going to do because they're track record on that is not great."
This week's joint federal and provincial announcement of close to $1 million for Squamish infrastructure projects and policing is good news, said Sutherland, but the matching-dollars aspect of the Harper government's project funding program still brings up challenges for communities.
Ignatieff lost the Liberal leadership nomination to Stéphane Dion in 2008. Dion announced his departure as leader after the Liberals lost seats and support in last year's general election. On Dec. 10, Ignatieff was formally declared the interim leader in a Liberal caucus meeting, and his position is to be ratified at the May 2009 convention.
