Citizenship, abortion, unions, trees: Friday on the campaign trail

OTTAWA — On the federal campaign trail, all the major party leaders are making announcements today, getting back into rhythm after Wednesday night’s debate and two days of revelations about multiple campaign planes and multiple passports.

Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is travelling in Quebec, making his policy promise in Quebec City before heading east to the Rimouski area.

He’s aiming to get past Conservative claims he’s a hypocrite for having two jets for his campaign instead of the usual one.

In Quebec City, Trudeau clarified his stance on abortion after his rival, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, confirmed he is personally against abortion.

Trudeau said he has come to realize there’s a contradiction between being opposed to abortion itself but supporting a woman’s right to choose to have one. That’s how the leader framed his position on the issue in the past but he says his position has since evolved, and he is no longer opposed to abortion in any way.

Scheer is in Toronto, starting out at an airport hotel and finishing with a rally at a pioneer village. He says he will get Canada’s border agency to do more to try and stop illegal guns from crossing into Canada from the United States.

He’s hoping to put aside criticism that he’s a hypocrite for holding dual citizenship in the U.S. while his party went after other politicians on the same grounds.

Trudeau was asked about the citizenship issue in Quebec.

“I do think that you have to be honest with Canadians when you’re applying for a job to be prime minister of 37 million Canadians,” he said. “I think that’s what Mr. Scheer has to answer for.”

Scheer said Thursday that he didn’t publicly announce his dual citizenship because no one ever asked.

“I made a decision after becoming leader of the party, that this would be something I would address before the campaign. It was a personal decision that I made, so I took those steps before the election,” he said in Toronto.

The NDP’s Jagmeet Singh started in Saskatoon before bouncing back east to Thunder Bay, Ont., making announcements in both places on how he’ll promote “strong public services.”

The United Steelworkers union in Saskatchewan has said it can’t support the NDP this election, pointing to the party’s opposition to the Trans Mountain pipeline. Singh said today that he stands for workers.

“People deserve better than bust and boom economies,” he said. “I’m going to make the investments, make the decisions to change EI to support workers for retraining, to support them when times are tough.”

Singh was asked if he holds dual citizenship himself. He said no, that the citizenship debacle is a distraction, and he has other things to criticize Scheer for.

And the Greens’ Elizabeth May is spending most of her time on local debates in her Vancouver Island riding, but is promising an announcement in Victoria on tree-planting.