Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party of Canada aren’t even fairing well in Toronto, as evidenced by their recent devastating loss of the 30-year Liberal stronghold of Toronto-St.Paul’s in a recent byelection. So no one was overly surprised at the fact that Trudeau was going to be missing this year's Calgary Stampede.

The Liberals lost Toronto-St.Paul’s in a bit of a nailbiter, but it seemed abundantly clear from the majority of folks we spoke with at the Stampede grounds, unlike the potentially divided sentiment in Ontario, that animosity towards condescending Laurentian elites in Ottawa is at an all-time high in Alberta.

Trudeau opting to snub the Stampede affirms a few things that we have known all along. Firstly that he doesn’t particularly care about the West, and secondly that he is at the point where he isn’t bothering to make an effort to mask it.

His non-appearance also signals something new however, and that is that he is giving up. He may not be resigning, and most polls suggest Trudeau’s unflappable ego will have him clutching the reins of leadership all the way to a Poilievre-led CPC majority government, but even he knows that he is not particularly welcome out west.

By stark contrast, Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the official opposition, seemed to already be embracing a prime-ministerial roll as he made appearances at dozens of Stampede events, shaking hands and kissing babies, all while accompanied (much to the chagrin of many bitter critics) by his lovely wife.

We were on location at Calgary CPC MP Jasraj Hallan Singh’s Stampede Breakfast asking a number of local elected officials if they believe Poilievre would really stick up for Alberta in Ottawa, and you can watch the report by clicking here if you are interested.

With countless headlines in Calgary's mainstream media highlighting Trudeau’s absence from the greatest outdoor show on earth, we made our way to the Stampede grounds to ask folks first-hand what they think about Trudeau skipping out and if they have any messages for the prime minister.

You likely won’t be surprised to learn that after eight years of anti-western sentiment and neglect, some Calgarians had some very NSFW responses for Justin.

Trudeau hates being questioned, which is why the media in this country is either bought and paid for or under constant attack. Justin would love nothing more than to shut Rebel News down because we ask tough questions and we don’t regurgitate his government’s narratives, but we know that our viewers will never let that happen.