Trudeau commits to Trans Mountain, cutting income tax in first press conference after election
(The Star Toronto Raptors)

OTTAWA— A chastened Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he would adopt a conciliatory approach to governing with a minority mandate, but signalled his determination to carry out the governing agenda advertised during a politically divisive campaign.Trudeau plans to unveil his new cabinet team on Nov. 20, saying it too would have gender parity among ministers and ruled out any kind of formal or informal coalition with opposition parties.But he stressed repeatedly his intent to work with other parties and suggested there was common ground where they could work together.“I think Canadians sent a clear message across the election of multiple parties that affordability and the fight against climate change are really clear priorities that they want this Parliament to work on. They also sent a clear message that they expect us as government to work with the other parties on these issues that matter to them and that’s exactly what we’re going to do,” he said.In an olive branch to the West, Trudeau said he intends to proceed with the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project that the NDP and Greens want halted.He said he will introduce a broad income tax cut as his first legislative act — a confidence measure he expects the progressive parties to support but the Conservatives could vote against. Trudeau, whose party has 157 seats — 20 fewer than it entered the election with — said he will be speaking with the leaders of the other political parties in the coming weeks to talk about their priorities and “about how we can work together to respond to the preoccupations that Canadians have.”Asked how he expects to heal the wounds of a campaign that stripped his party of any seats in Alberta and Saskatchewan, Trudeau acknowledged the divisions that emerged and accepted his own role in it.Trudeau told reporters at the National Press Theatre that he regrets the “tone and divisiveness and the disinformation” t ...