Why I Chose to Join the People’s Party of Canada

 This year has been a critical one for me. All my research into SARS-CoV2 has shown that it is comparable to the flu in infectiousness and deadliness.  If I don't fear one why should I fear the other? Yet the world around me has been going insane. Rather than just complaining, like writing blog posts, I decided to try and do something about it. So begins a series of essays that explore my jump into "politics". Even family members have told me "you are not a politician"! True, in that I purposely will not lie to get a vote just so I can have a cushy job. But that is at the core of our current problems; too many people elected to represent us, the people, who fail miserably. In fact they help make it worse!

 

I first started voting when I reached the age of “majority”, eighteen. And I have voted every opportunity since although there have been many times I seriously considered not as none of the available choices were palatable. In the end I still voted but decided to vote for the lesser of the available evils of the day.

For many years I never aligned myself with a political party, especially by taking out a membership. I was truly an “independent” voting for the person or platform that appealed to me most. An example was voting for Jack Stokes who, at the time, represented the New Democratic Party in Ontario. A person who did his best to represent his constituents no matter their political leanings. To this day he is still my role model of what an elected representative should be.

In the 1980’s I started to take more of an interest in politics, but it wasn’t until the mid 1990’s I finally took out a membership in a political party and that was solely to prove to myself my commitment. The party? The Reform Party of Canada as I agreed with the basic premise that our senate needed to be reformed.

When I was in High School one course I took was Canadian Law and one topic covered was the Canadian Senate and why it was created; to provide a means of tempering the “tyranny of the majority” as experienced by the least populated areas, such as Northwestern Ontario and Western Canada in general. It was obvious to me, as I took the time to look at the details, that the Canadian Senate, as it had evolved into, was not working. The only party trying to fix that inequity was the Reform Party.

Over time, while its platform resonated in western Canada, it could not gain traction east of Manitoba. This resulted in it merging with the Progressive Conservative Party and thus creating the Conservative Party of Canada. Yet I never felt comfortable with this new party, primarily because of it being wishy washy on certain issues, such as supply management and global warming/climate change. The later, as it involves earth forming processes, something as a Geologist I know a bit about, I have been looking at closely now for over 2 decades. To this day I have yet to find any truth but a lot of fiction. And the one party to swallow that fiction hook, line and sinker was the Liberal Party of Canada with the New Democrats being a close second. As a scientist at my very core is the search for truth and as such I just cannot, and will not, support fiction. Especially when it is used to make our lives worse after all the advances we have made during my lifetime.

Prime Minister Harper I personally liked but whenever I was thinking the Conservative party was aligned with my morals and ethics he would say or do something that made me back off. As you may have figured by the previous paragraph, his tacet acceptance that we humans can control the climate was the main sticking point. Then came the election in 2015 at which he lost. After wasting the opportunity to start to set things right the previous four years with a majority. After 9 years as Prime Minister he decided it was time to move on and so resigned as leader of the Conservative party.

I paid attention to the resulting leadership race although I never took part by taking out a membership in the party. I was back to being an independent. A person tied only to a platform or candidate that appealed to me rather than committed to a party. Yet the platform that Maxime Bernier presented made a lot of sense. I hoped he would win. But then he lost by a slim margin due to backroom shenanigans. The same type of corruption that has permeated all the other major parties where they are now led by a back-room bunch who use the leader of the party as a puppet to bring about negative change that reflects idealistic, yet morally and ethically corrupt policies.

Maxime tried to be a good loser but came to the realisation that the party was too corrupt and so he quit. Rather than fading into the background he realised there was a need for a party that was honest with a sensible platform that put the common person first. One not corrupted by special interest groups. Thus, he formed the People’s Party of Canada. That basic theme appealed to me and so I donated to the party, the first time I had ever done that. As the party developed the more I liked it!

To me, what is not to like where the focus is on real issues! My core philosophy has always been “fiscally responsible with a social conscience”. And every item on the evolving platform meshed with that core philosophy. For the first time in my life there is a party where I feel comfortable as the fit is so good! Truth is valued. Respect for others is valued. Fiscal and personal responsibility is valued. Fairness is valued. And most importantly, Freedom is valued!

Another appealing aspect is Maxime himself. He has proven he is a man of principle and so am I. He has never wavered from his core principles. He does not bend a knee to idealogues, nor does he waver by virtue signalling to fool people into believing he is something he is not. He is the real deal. A person who is dedicating his life to his country. The living epitome of JFK’s famous statement, “ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”. And to paraphrase Martin Luther King from his “I have a Dream” speech in that he and I both have a dream that Canadians will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.

At this point in history Canada, and Canadians, have available to them a party that puts them first. Not the elite who mock us at every opportunity. Like attending conferences on our dime yet ignoring the same rules they are trying to impose on us. Not wearing masks. Not caring how much “carbon” they spew. Showing that their policies are lies by their actions. A party that does not virtue signal. A party that values our laws, especially our Charter of Rights and Freedoms. And just plain is the living epitome of “peace, order and good government” that has been a long-time national motto that is on the verge of being thrown onto the dust bin though it has done us well since 1867, the year our country was born.