Terry Lake and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on May 21, 2019, at the Coast Kamloops Hotel and Conference Centre.

(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)

KAMLOOPS — Hundreds of Liberal Party of Canada supporters gathered at the Coast Kamloops Hotel and Conference Centre in Aberdeen as Terry Lake was acclaimed as the Liberal candidate by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this evening, May 21.

Lake announced last month he would be returning to politics as the Liberal candidate for the Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo for the October federal election. Lake has served as a Kamloops city councillor, mayor and as the MLA for the Kamloops-North Thompson. 

Trudeau was in the Tournament Capital to make a few remarks about Lake's nomination.

"Today is a good day for the people of Kamloops because Terry Lake has been nominated," Trudeau says. "You know Terry, we know Terry, he has a strong voice for the community."

After serving as an MLA for the region, Lake served as the B.C. Environment Minister from 2011 to 2013 before being named Health Minister in the 2013 election. He held that position until 2017. Since then, he has taken on the role as vice-president of corporate responsibility for Hexo Corp, one of Canada's largest cannabis producers.

Lake said if he became the federal Liberal candidate, he would take a leave of absence from Hexo Corp once the campaign election began officially.

Lake says the Liberal government's commitment to climate change is what brought him off the sidelines and back into politics.

"We see the evidence every summer," Lake says. "Climate change is a threat. We must do something to improve it for our children."

Lake also says the current overdose crisis has been one of the worst public health crisis on years. It was another factor that brought him back into politics.

Outside of the Liberal event, roughty a dozen so-called Yellow Vest protestors gathered outside the conference centre.

Pat Raisbeck stood drumming with a group of protestors wearing yellow vests holding various signs.

One read "Trudeau, you don't speak for this Canadian."

"We've gotten a lot of honks and waves, and people chanting 'Trudeau has got to go'," she says. "We are not anti-Liberal, we are not anti-race, we are anti-losing the sovereignty of Canada."

The event was free for the public to attend.

Roughly a dozen people gathered outside the venue where Justin Trudeau was set to acclaim Terry Lake as the Liberal candidate for the October federal election.

(KAREN EDWARDS / iNFOnews.ca)

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