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People’s Party of Canada putting focus on freedom this election

August 26, 2021   ·   0 Comments

Written By Sam Odrowski

People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier is back in the political arena after first forming his party in September of 2018. 

Compared to the established political parties in Canada, Bernier is taking a much different approach, with a strong emphasis on personal responsibility and freedom, as well as an unwavering commitment to reducing the government’s size.

Bernier, who was a cabinet minister under the Stephen Harper government, was recently in the area for a rally and sat down for an interview to discuss his campaign as the Sept. 20 federal election draws closer. 

In speaking with Bernier, he said balancing the federal budget and eliminating the deficit, which was nearly $22 billion in 2019 and jumped to $314 billion in 2020, are two key priorities.

“We will balance the budget in four years,” he said. “We would be able to do that because we’ll cut the CBC dollars, we will cut foreign aid, we will cut corporate welfare, we will look at all the money that we’re giving to the U.N [United Nations] and international organizations, because we are fighting for our sovereignty – Canada first.”

Bernier said he opposes socialism, globalism, and what he calls “government overreach” with respect to the provincial and federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

He said a focus on protecting the elderly and people with comorbidities, while allowing those who are young, healthy, and willing to work maintain their employment, would have been a better approach then using lockdowns.

“The virus is there, we will have to live with the virus, like other viruses, so that’s why we must end all that,” Bernier remarked. “The COVID-19 hysteria must end.”

When asked what issue he was most concerned about heading into the election, Bernier said it’s the federal government’s latest move to mandate vaccines for federal employees, as well as air and train passengers, travelling within Canada.

“If you want to travel, you need to have a vaccine passport, and that’s immoral, unconstitutional, illegal – and I believe that a lot of Canadians understand that,” he remarked.

“The main question for this election is do we want more and more of what we had the last 17 months or live in a real free society, not in a communist society, where with everything that you want to do, you have to show your papers.”

Bernier added that the People’s Party of Canada isn’t against vaccinations, but is for freedom of choice, where all citizens are able to decide if they want to be vaccinated, with informed consent. 

“They are pushing and pushing the vaccine, and they want to divide our society into two groups of citizens, and we are against that,” he said.

The Peoples Party of Canada is based on upon four core principles: individual freedom, personal responsibility, respect, and fairness.

Bernier said all of his party’s decisions are made with these four principles in mind. 

“We are doing politics differently because we are doing politics based on these principles. We are doing politics based on conviction and not on surveys and polling to know what you want to hear,” he noted. 

Bernier said he isn’t making any big election promises like the mainstream parties to gain votes, but instead, recognizes that Canada’s running a high deficit and will work towards eliminating it over the next four years, if elected.

Meanwhile, eliminating inflation, which is currently the highest it’s been since 2011, is another one of the party’s priorities, he noted. 

“There’s 3.7 per cent inflation and if you do your groceries, that’s about four or five per cent. That must stop. Everybody is poorer,” Bernier said. “Our policy’s to have a zero inflation target with the Bank of Canada, so that Canadians will keep their purchasing power and the standard of living.”

August 15 of this year marked the 50th anniversary of the United States ending the gold standard, under the Bretton Woods Agreement, which the rest of the world followed in, creating the fiat money system that exists today.

Fiat currency, which is money made legal tender by a government decree rather than something of actual value backing it, is largely responsible for inflation increasing more rapidly in the last 50 years. Since 1971 when the gold standard was created, the cost of living has increased 700 per cent.  

Bernier is the only Canadian politician publicly in favour of reviving the gold standard or pegging the dollar to something of value again as a way of eliminating inflation, however, he said it isn’t possible unless other countries do the same. 

Alternative currencies such as Bitcoin, which will officially become legal tender in El Salvador on Sept. 7, are also of interest to Bernier, who says he wouldn’t regulate the digital asset and welcomes competition in the space. 

Although, the first step for the People’s Party of Canada is bringing the Bank of Canada inflation target down to zero and achieving it through cutting spending and money printing. 

With respect to the climate, Bernier says “there should be no climate hysteria” as the climate has always been changing throughout history.

“We’re the only party that won’t sign the Paris Accord, we won’t impose a carbon tax,” he said. “We’ll do something for the environment, we’ll have a concrete policy to be sure that all lakes are clear – our waters and rivers. So, we need to do more concrete action for the environment, but climate change, I leave that to provinces, if they want to do something.”

Going forward, Bernier said he’s hopeful his party will gain more support than in the 2019 election, where he saw 1.4 per cent of the national vote. However, he did note that 1.4 per cent of the total vote isn’t the worst place to start as a newly formed party, considering it took the Green Party of Canada 20 years to achieve the same popularity at the voting booth.

Bernier said he encourages everyone to learn morwe about the People’s Party of Canada ahead of the federal election on Sept. 20.

“Please go and see our platform and if you like what you are seeing, that we are doing politics different, support us,” he said.



         

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