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Weather keeps Trudeau from Victoria; prime minister to chat with premier via video

A snow and windstorm has cancelled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Victoria to meet with B.C. Premier John Horgan on Monday. The prime minister's team was stuck in Vancouver on Sunday night.

A snow and windstorm has cancelled Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's trip to Victoria to meet with B.C. Premier John Horgan on Monday.

The prime minister's team was stuck in Vancouver on Sunday night. The city was hit by a snowstorm, closing the Lions' Gate Bridge temporarily for plowing, and wind prompted B.C. Ferries to cancel dozens of trips throughout the day.

Trudeau and Horgan were scheduled to meet Monday morning at the B.C. legislature. Instead they will talk via a video teleconference. Horgan will address the media after the meeting.

The two were expected to discuss pressing issues including the Ukraine Air disaster and potentially joint infrastructure projects, housing, the opioid crisis and Pharmacare.

On Sunday, the prime minister was at the University of Alberta to attend a memorial service for the victims of the plane crash in Iran. Most of the passengers were heading to Canada.

Trudeau’s diplomatic outrage over Iran’s admission its military shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 people on board, has received international attention.

The crash victims included more than a dozen people from B.C., including University of Victoria student Roja Omidbakhsh, who was in her first year of commerce at the Gustavson School of Business.

Trudeau has called the airplane crash “horrific” and a “Canadian tragedy” and has said Iran “must take full responsibility.”

Trudeau vowed to do all in his power to pursue a comprehensive and transparent investigation into why and how the aircraft was shot down by an Iranian missile near Tehran

Trudeau was last here on the eve of the fall 2019 election when he made his final campaign stop at the Bard and Banker pub.

ceharnett@timescolonist.com