Xinhua | Updated: 2019-10-24 14:15
OTTAWA – Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday that he will unveil his new gender-balanced cabinet on Nov 20, but his Liberal Party will not form a “formal or informal” coalition with any opposition party.
Trudeau made the remarks at his first news conference after Monday’s general election, which gave his Liberal Party a second term in government but without the majority he won in 2015.
The Canadian prime minister said he would have “various and varied conversations” with each of the four opposition leaders “to talk about their priorities” and “how we can work together to respond to the preoccupations that Canadians have” across the country.
Trudeau identified two of his top priorities, including the fight against climate change, saying that he will reach out to the 32-member caucus of the Bloc Quebecois, a nationalist party in the French-speaking province of Quebec where climate action is a major issue.
The prime minister also highlighted the need for action on “affordability,” which would take form in a middle-class tax cut that he intends to propose before Parliament when it reconvenes.
But not all matters will be up for negotiation, Trudeau said, adding that the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project, which will transport oil from the provinces of Alberta to British Columbia on the west coast for shipment to Asian markets, will proceed, despite strong objection from the left-of-center New Democratic Party.