Inflation and western alienation are two topics that People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier has heard regularly while touring Canada, while he believes sticking to the party’s convictions will lead to future electoral success.
Bernier was at Connor Park on Aug. 24 for a barbecue luncheon as part of his 2022 Western Tour. Nearly 60 people attended the event, which also featured local candidate Chey Craik and Kelly Lorencz, the party’s lieutenant for Western Canada and the Territories.
The PPC leader spoke to the Moose Jaw Express beforehand about several topics.
Economic hardship
The biggest concern Bernier has heard is about inflation. He attributes that problem to the Liberal government’s decision to run a combined deficit of $450 billion during the last two year for its pandemic support programs.
The PPC leader criticized the Conservative Party of Canada for supporting those big-ticket programs and vaccine mandates. He also criticized Pierre Poilievre for attacking the Liberals on inflation even though the leadership hopeful voted for those high-spending programs.
“… after that, the Bank of Canada was the ATM machine or credit card of the federal government,” Bernier said. “And … when you print money out of thin air, you have more money chasing fewer goods and you have inflation.”
To fight inflation, Canada must return to balanced budgets and have zero inflation instead of the Bank of Canada’s two-per-cent target, he continued. This would enable Canadians to keep more of their money.
The West wants in … again
Western Canadians are tired of the country’s political situation and feel abandoned by federal politicians — including Poilievre — who ignore the West, said Bernier, who chalked up the alienation to an unfair equalization formula that Poilievre won’t touch.
The PPC is the only party that would change the formula and make it less generous but ensure the right incentives are available for Quebec and New Brunswick to develop their natural resource sector, he continued.
The Conservative Party takes for grant its western support, because after acquiring that support, it usually moves to the political left, Bernier remarked. Poilievre is speaking like a conservative since he wants to be leader, but he will likely act like former leader Erin O’Toole and move left to please Quebec and Ontario.
Growing the party
Besides former Conservative members, new voters and NDP supporters are slowly coming to the PPC, Bernier said. The NDP has become a “woke organization” that no longer reflects the vision of former leaders Jack Layton and Ed Broadbent.
“We are a common-sense political party and we are doing politics differently and people appreciate that,” remarked Bernier. “It’s not a slogan. That’s the reality because we have strong convictions and we are speaking about it.”
The PPC has maintained the same electoral platform since it first ran in 2019 and doesn’t plan to change to it, he continued. Meanwhile, Bernier thought there was no substance — nothing conservative — to Poilievre’s objectives.
While the Conservatives and Liberals will conduct polling and focus groups to help them create new electoral platforms, the PPC will stick to its convictions — even if they are unpopular, Bernier said.
“… it will become popular because it’s based on Western civilization values on freedom, respect, personal freedom (and) fairness … ,” he stated. “We are offering an alternative to Canadians. That’s why I believe we will grow.”
Vote split, what vote split?
“There’s no such thing as splitting the vote because we will support every political party that will implement legislation in line with our values, including the Conservatives,” Bernier said.
A PPC MP would support a Conservative government and push it to stay politically right, similar to how the NDP is pushing the Liberals to “the extreme left.” Moreover, the party would be honest about its values and not compromise on its principles. It would act as an “insurance policy” to ensure the Conservative Party stayed conservative.
Remaining conservative is important because, under Stephen Harper, the party did not act conservative, Bernier said. Harper increased the money eastern provinces received under equalization and failed to build pipelines.
The PPC leader did not think Poilievre — who has said he will build pipelines — would be able to build that infrastructure unless he used the Constitution to secure full jurisdiction over the project.
“And that’s the only way to build pipelines, but he won’t do that because it will be (unpleasing to) Quebec and B.C.,” Bernier added. “So it’s all about polling, focusing groups (and) popularity and nothing about conviction.”
