Estelle Hjertaas and Sheila Copps met in Hjertaas' campaign office in Prince Albert on Friday. (Ian Gustafson/paNOW Staff)

By Ian Gustafson

Liberal boost

Sheila Copps lends support to local Liberal candidate

Sep 20, 2019 | 4:07 PM

Former Liberal Deputy Prime Minister Sheila Copps stopped by candidate Estelle Hjertaas’ campaign office in Prince Albert on Friday.

She was here to lend support to her fellow-Liberal, although plans to go door knocking together were shelved because Hjertaas has a cold.

“I think in 2019 the political landscape has gone sour and people are more interested in bringing the country down then they are in bringing the country up,” Copps told paNOW. “In my experience in particular women are strong team builders so the fact that Estelle has chosen to put her name forward for the Liberal party I think she deserves support.”

Copps, who hasn’t been an MP since 2004, was passing through town.

“I think on a local level it’s really important the local media gets a chance to cover all the local candidates so if there is a chance to shine a light on Estelle’s campaign then obviously, I would like to do that.”

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Earlier this year Copps was very critical of former colleagues Jody Wilson-Raybould and Jane Philpott when they went rogue following pressure exerted on them by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau regarding the SNC-Lavalin scandal. And she is still critical of the two who are now running as Independent MPs.

“They basically paved the way for Mr. Scheer to win the election and I think in politics one has to look at the big picture,” Copps said. “Jody Wilson-Raybould’s career was based on trying to support Indigenous people. She has the most aggressive agenda on reconciliation in the history of the country and their actions serve to undermine that agenda.”

Some will have perceived Copps’ criticism as undermining feminism but Hjertaas doesn’t think the visit Friday would have any impact on her campaign and efforts to attract women voters.

“Sheila is just here visiting, she is her own person with her own opinions, which I think are well known and I think it’s great to have someone who was a long serving Liberal MP just stopping by to lend support,” Hjertaas said.

“I think it’s fantastic, I met Sheila a number of years ago because she was hosting a fundraiser for my friend who was running in the Pontiac riding at that time at her house in Ottawa,” Hjertaas said.

“I know she has always been a huge supporter of women running in politics and I think it’s fantastic she agreed to stop by and meet some of the volunteers.”

paNOW asked Copps what she made of the this week’s Justin Trudeau brownface images controversy.

“He showed a lot of contrition and I think he needed to,” Copps said of Trudeau’s repeated apologies. “It was dumb, and stupid, and juvenile but it’s over and I don’t think people are going to make a decision in October based on something that happened 20 years ago. I would hope they wouldn’t.”

Copps said she doesn’t think there will be any long-term damage to Trudeau’s campaign.

“Certainly, you’re going to see a dip in the next few days, but I think in the long-term people are wanting to focus on forward looking policies,” she said.

“I think there is a reason the majority of Canadian women are actually supporting Justin Trudeau because his opponent’s campaign, the Conservative leader would actually take us back to the days of father knows best of the ’50s. Those days are gone and we don’t want to go backwards we want to go forward and that’s why I came to help Estelle,” Copps added.

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ian.gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @iangustafson12