Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Kamloops mayor Ken Christian at the Coast Kamloops Hotel and Conference Centre on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019.

(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS — The Prime Minister spoke at a Liberal party fundraiser and held a public town hall meeting during his time in Kamloops, and in between the two events Trudeau met with local dignitaries including the city’s mayor Ken Christian.

Christian sat down with the Prime Minister yesterday, Jan. 9, to talk about issues pertaining to Kamloops. He says the conversation revolved around railroads, homelessness strategies and climate change.

“It went very well, I was particularly pleased with the way the Prime Minister had been briefed about Kamloops,” Christian says.

The Mayor says he wanted to talk about issues revolving around the city’s expanding railroads.

“We are hosting about 55 trains a day across 25 level crossings, and the trains are getting longer and slower,” he says. “They are blocking cars and they are blocking first responders in certain parts of the community.”

Christian says this shouldn’t be an issue that falls on the shoulders of local taxpayers.

“We are handling the commodities from Western Canada and now we are going to get stuck with bills for overpasses, flyovers and that kind of thing,” Christian explains.

He says Trudeau suggested Transport Canada could be able to give the city some insight on how to handle the city's railroad issues.

Another topic the two discussed was the environment.

“We talked about climate change and the impact that it has on infrastructure… roads, bridges and certainly storm sewers,” Christian said.

Overall, Christian says it was a good but short conversation with the Prime Minister.

“I was probably more excited to meet him than he was to meet the mayor of Kamloops,” he says. “It was a unique opportunity that you get as a mayor and you get to represent the citizens.”

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