QUEBEC, Que. — After a short low-key visit to Quebec’s capital region, Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff said he wasn’t throwing in the towel.
“What are you saying?” he asked a reporter. “We never give up. We are here to win and we will return to the region.”
Ignatieff made the comments after visiting a community centre and speaking with volunteers and associations for the hearing impaired, cancer patients and their families, single parents, youth at risk among others.
He said the Liberal platform addresses issues that would help people at the centre.
“After May 2, it will either be Mr. Harper as prime minister or me,” Ignatieff said. “This is the power that Quebecers have. They have the power to change things. If they elect Liberal MPs they will have a Liberal government close to values of solidarity as we saw in this centre.”
The Quebec City region has become a bastion of Conservative support since the 2006 election, but some waffling by the Tories over the issue of funding a professional sports arena has plagued them of late in media reports.
The Bloc Québécois also has high hopes of making gains in the region at the expense of the Tories and it has been highlighting the issue during recent events and news conferences.
Ignatieff reiterated that the federal Liberals wouldn’t support investments to help a professional hockey team, but would support federal investments for a multi-functional facility.
“That part of the facility that has cultural events, that has exhibition space, that has conference space and can contribute to the economic development of the region – that part of that project seems to us the kind of thing the federal government can support provided we do it fairly across the country,” Ignatieff said.
The Liberal leader initially declined to answer questions from reporters regarding his visit to the region, but changed his mind after complaints from local journalists.
Ignatieff is schedule to wrap up his day with a rally of Liberal supporters in Drummondville, roughly 100 km east of Montreal.
