A splinter party of the Conservative Party of Canada has established a toe-hold in Burnaby South.
The People’s Party of Canada founded an electoral district association (EDA) for Burnaby South in early October, and the party executive has a candidate in mind, whom they plan to announce early in the new year, according to Al Rawdah, the EDA’s president.
A photo of Maxime Bernier, leader of the newly formed People’s Party of Canada, was tweeted out on Thursday night (Nov. 8) with the board members of its Burnaby South electoral district association. The tweet stated: “We are proud to stand with Maxime Bernier and we know all Canadians will be soon…” The event was held at the Holiday Inn in downtown Vancouver to launch several party organizations.
To address issues in Burnaby South, like poverty and housing, Rawdah said the party believes in small government and lower regulations for businesses. The party also believes in “controlled immigration” that works for everyone he added, criticizing the prime minister for putting refugees in hotels.
“We’re conservatives, we respect Canadians’ taxpayer money – it should be set up as controlled immigration policy,” he said, but added the party is not against refugees.
The People’s Party of Canada also plans to set up associations in New Westminster and Burnaby North-Seymour within the next couple weeks, according to Rawdah.
While the People’s Party of Canada isn’t listed as registered yet with Elections Canada, the leader, who recently left the Conservative party, has been touring across Canada. Rawdah said they expect their party’s status with Elections Canada to be finalized within a couple weeks.
The party’s website has some information, but for its platform, it encourages voters to check Bernier’s platform from when he was running for leader of the Conservative party in 2016-2017. He was defeated by Andrew Scheer in that race.
Currently, the Burnaby South seat is vacant after Kennedy Stewart left to run for mayor of Vancouver. The leader of the federal NDP, Jagmeet Singh, plans to run in the riding when a by-election is called.
Photos of the event on Nov. 8 with Bernier were also posted on Facebook by Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson, who opposes SOGI and ran for the Burnaby school board in the October municipal election.
