Trudeau touches down in Kelowna for Liberal caucus retreat

KELOWNA – All Walter Huebert wanted was to add Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a list that stretches back to 1939.

That’s when Huebert says he met his first prime minister Mackenzie King and he’s since managed to chat up almost every one since.

Until today, when he couldn’t quite get past the Trudeau’s security detail at the Enterprise Way fire hall where the prime minister travelled from Kelowna International Airport.

Standing outside the fire hall in suit and tie with a clutch of other people waiting for Trudeau, Huebert said he has had no real axe to grind with any of the prime ministers.

“I keep the politics out of it,” he says. “It’s a bit of a hobby, that’s all.”

Even if Heubert had managed to get inside, he wouldn’t have heard much. Trudeau did not speak to media at the fire hall and was not supposed to address them during his Knox Mountain hike Tuesday evening.

Local MP Stephen Fuhr is hosting the federal Liberal caucus in Kelowna this week. As such he’s been the target this week of small business owners upset over the Trudeau government’s proposed tax changes.

“It falls on me because I’m the host but that’s the way it is,” he said.

Kelowna city councillor Gail Given said she’s been hearing all week from local farmers and orchardists about the implications of the tax change and hopes Trudeau’s government will slow down on its implementation.

Trudeau is scheduled to speak at a town hall-style meeting at UBC Okanagan tomorrow Sept. 6 at 6 p.m.

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