Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks during a media availability at the Black Cultural Centre For Nova Scotia in Dartmouth, N.S., on Feb. 21, 2019.Riley Smith/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed the economic importance of supporting university research as he continued a tour of the East Coast Friday with a stop in Newfoundland.
Trudeau spoke at the Core Science Facility, which is under construction at Memorial University in St. John’s.
The ambitious $325-million project received $100 in federal funding announced in 2016.
The three-pavilion building will eventually be home for the departments of biochemistry, biology and chemistry, along with electrical and computer engineering and will house offices, laboratories, meeting rooms and teaching halls.
“Once completed, this facility will support Canadian innovation, research and science – all essential elements to a competitive and thriving economy,” said Trudeau. “In order to position Canada as a global leader in the new economy we have to invest in our students and their future.”
Trudeau later fielded questions from reporters, although he deflected those on local issues including the federal loan guarantee for the Muskrat Falls hydroelectric megaproject and the need for a new prison in St. John’s.
He said he was looking forward to discussing issues important to the province in a meeting later Friday with Premier Dwight Ball.
“I look forward to sitting down with the premier … and hearing about his plans for continuing to grow the economy of Newfoundland and Labrador,” he said. “We are committed to this province. The investments we have been making amongst others in infrastructure, as we see here today, are a demonstration to the commitment we have.”
The prime minister said his government had approved more than 350 infrastructure projects in Newfoundland and Labrador since 2016.
Trudeau’s visit to St. John’s followed one in Halifax on Thursday where he announced up to $86.5-million to improve an expressway into the city.
During a visit to the community of Cherry Brook, he told an audience of African Nova Scotians that an incident of racial profiling on Parliament Hill shows racism and systemic discrimination still can emerge anywhere in Canada.
The Federation of Black Canadians has said several participants in a Feb. 4 lobbying event in Ottawa were asked to wait in the parliamentary cafeteria, where a security guard referred to their skin colour and requested their departure, despite rules that allow civilians with the appropriate passes to be in the area.
Following his trip to Newfoundland, Trudeau is to travel to Toronto, where he and Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen are to meet members of Operation Black Vote later Friday.