AMHERST, N.S. — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made a quick visit to Amherst on Tuesday as the federal campaign enters the final week.
Trudeau, who also stopped in Masstown on his way to a campaign rally in Halifax, did not make any announcements or speak. He got off the campaign bus, hugged retiring Cumberland-Colchester MP Bill Casey and Liberal candidate Lenore Zann before greeting party supporters on Victoria Street and inside the Savoie Kitchen.
After about 15 minutes he exited the restaurant, got back on the campaign bus and headed to the next event.
There was a heavy police presence with both Amherst Police and RCMP on scene. Victoria Street was closed from Havelock to Acadia Street as a security measure.
National Citizens Alliance founder Stephen Garvey, who is also the party’s candidate in Cumberland-Colchester, was also in attendance using a megaphone to question both Zann and the prime minister.
Several times before the prime minister’s bus arrived, Garvey approached Liberal supporters and words were exchanged but nothing developed – although party supporters asked Garvey to leave and while the prime minister was on the sidewalk and in the restaurant he kept his distance across the street.
With six days left in the campaign, leading up to the Oct. 21 election, the Trudeau-led Liberals are running neck and neck with Andrew Scheer’s Conservatives.
In Nova Scotia, Cumberland-Colchester has been identified as one of the races to watch as Casey is retiring and former Truro-Bible Hill NDP MLA Lenore Zann is running for the Liberals against former Conservative MP Scott Armstrong.
The polling website 338canada.com has Zann with a slight edge over Armstrong while the Green Party’s Jason Blanch is in third.
