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B.C. man sues to stop Maxime Bernier from using People's Party name in Burnaby South

Abbotsford businessman claims rights to party name, filed suit in Federal Court
Satinder Dhillon
Satinder Dhillon claims the name People's Party of Canada belongs to him.

It’s called the People’s Party of Canada – but a pair of lawsuits filed in Federal Court brings into question exactly which people own the name.

Former Conservative Maxime Bernier, a Quebec MP, is the registered leader of the party, but Satinder Dhillon of Abbotsford says the name belongs to him. The businessman says he first came up with the name in 2015. A news story backs up his claim.

“The PPC (People’s Party of Canada) is not about politics, it is much more than that,” Dhillon told the Times of Canada in a story published in July, 2015. “It is a movement to inform the citizens about what is really going on in this country.”

But, Dhillon told the NOW, he did not have enough time to register his federal party for that year’s election. When Justin Trudeau’s Liberals were swept into power that fall, he said he gave them a chance to follow through on some of their bold promises. 

A couple years of broken Liberal promises reignited Dhillon’s desire to start his own party, he said.

“The job just didn't get done, so we've been gearing up to do this for some time now,” he said.

Dhillon’s political vision is starkly different from Bernier’s. While the former Conservative minister identifies as a libertarian, tacking to the right of his former party, Dhillon says his party will focus on economic injustice – an issue he says has been largely ignored by Canada’s major parties. 

Dhillon claims he was the first to file the name with Elections Canada in late September 2018 – weeks before Bernier – but Bernier beat him in the next step in the registration process by submitting paperwork, including signatures from 250 supporters.

Bernier was at an unfair advantage because he and his supporters live much closer to the Elections Canada office in Quebec, Dhillon said. And, he said, this was all going on during a postal workers’ strike – providing an added hindrance to the B.C.-based party.

“In our view, Elections Canada erred by not taking into account delays caused by the Canada Post strike and Mr. Dhillon’s earlier initial filing and should have awarded the party name to Mr. Dhillon,” Dhillon’s lawyer, Dean Davison, said in a statement.  

A cease and desist letter sent to Bernier was met with “deafening silence,” Dhillon said.

Dhillon is seeking an injunction to prevent Bernier from using the name during the Burnaby South byelection next week (Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson is the party’s candidate). The lawsuit is also requesting a review of Elections Canada’s approval process.

A spokesperson for Bernier’s PPC responded to the NOW with an emailed statement. 

“We are confident that our party was registered in accordance with the rules and that these lawsuits have no legal basis,” Martin Masse wrote.  

Elections Canada spokesperson Natasha Gauthier confirmed that Bernier was the first to attain eligibility to have the People’s Party of Canada registered as a federal party. The party was officially registered once Bernier successfully registered candidates in three Feb. 25 byelections, she said. 

Gauthier said she could not respond to Dhillon’s arguments about the approval process due to the pending court cases. 

Dhillon said he was forced to abandon plans to run a candidate, Jusjeet Dadwal, in the Burnaby South byelection. But said he plans to run a full slate in the October general election if he can reclaim the People’s Party name.   

“The intention is to run in all 338 ridings,” he said “I think every community in Canada is ready for a different option.”

So why not just relinquish the name to Bernier, rebrand and focus on building a new political movement?

Dhillon said it’s Bernier’s particular brand of politics that has emboldened him to fight for the name usage. 

“Their policies and what they stand for is just so divisive; I have to fight for what's rightfully ours,” he said. “Their brand of politics should not be welcome in a place like Canada.”

Dhillon, a Canadian-born son of immigrants, said he takes issue with Bernier’s rhetoric around immigration.

“My parents came to this country for a better life, and it would go against everything I believe in not to fight this,” he said.