PPC leader visits riding, local candidate

The federal election campaign started with gusto Wednesday when People’s Party of Canada leader Maxime Bernier made tour stops in Collingwood and Wasaga Beach.
Bernier vowed to use his words and his philosophy as weapons in the battle of ideas and he asked supporters to do the same.
“Use your words, use your weapons and help us to rebuild this country based on freedom and on western civilization values, not on totalitarianism and socialism,” Bernier told a group of about 100 supporters gathered at Sunset Point in Collingwood.
He said Canada needs a new voice, a common sense and ideological revolution and that’s what his party is doing.
“We are doing politics differently and the other options suck so that’s the reality. They don’t have any solutions for the challenges of today,” said Bernier.
The former Conservative MP promised cuts to the United Nations, the CBC, corporate welfare, foreign aid but said the most important debate at the time is about lockdowns, vaccine passports, mask mandates.
“We will win that debate because we are speaking about facts and it is based on science. We know that the virus is there and it will be with us. We need to live with it,” said Bernier, equating a vaccine passport to a show-us-your-papers communist society.
From the beginning of the noon hour rally there was a vocal presence from protesters with the Unity Collective who had organized what they were calling a love rally calling out the party on its ideology and policies.
Bernier was staunch in his defence of the PPC’s four founding principles: freedom, responsibility, fairness and respect.
After several interruptions and some very heated exchanges between a handful of protesters and PPC supporters, Bernier gave the protesters four minutes to have their say hoping he could then proceed uninterrupted.
Protesters were aiming to point out that the PPC platform discriminates against people who are already marginalized.
Robin Shaw said she organized the counter rally because she and her mother experienced an awakening after the death of George Floyd, coming to a realization that racism is more prevalent than they realized and she is calling on white people to no longer be silent and perpetuate systems of operation.
Bernier was quick to address his policies against “mass immigration” in favour of “sustainable immigration”
“Our position. is fewer immigrants and our immigration system must be based on the economic needs of this country,” he said.
Bernier spoke in favour of an immigration policy limited to 150,000 per year with 75 per cent being skilled labour that come with a job.
“It’s easier for that person to integrate into our society but I know they will come with another culture, we are welcoming that. What we are saying is against ‘extreme multiculturalism’ …We must celebrate what unites us and what unites us is our core western civilization values: freedom, everyone is equal before the law, men and women are equal,” he said.
“This country was built by immigrants, we are not anti-immigrant, we are for everybody. It’s not important if you are gay, black or white… you share our values, come and build this country with us.”
“The PPC is saying no. No to racial politics, no to identity politics and the most important: I said no four years ago to political correctness,” said Bernier. “We need to be able to have a real debate in this country on the very important issues and we are bringing these debates alive and I can tell you I will be on the stage for the national debates with the other leaders and we will show to Canadians that don’t know that we exist because we have been cancelled by the main stream media … they will see a leader on the stage which is answering the question… We will show them that we are doing politics differently,” said Bernier.
The party has been excluded from upcoming televised debates, having received less than two per cent of the popular vote in the last federal election, although he was included in the 2019 debates.
Bernier said he is also saying no to the Paris accord and no to carbon tax and no to the dysfunctional United Nations.
He said he was the only party leader celebrating Canada Day in Ottawa, saying “I am proud to be Canadian. We must be proud of our history of our culture, heritage but when you say that in Canada right now, oh my god, you cannot say that.”
“We know that the climate is changing, we know that but the most important is to change the climate of the public opinion,” said Bernier, “and that’s the goal with all of our candidates.”
Bernier took the opportunity to introduce Simcoe-Grey candidate Adam Minatel, a first-time candidate from Tottenham.
“I joined this party to express myself and Canada, I believe, is not going in the right direction,” said Minatel. “The government right now doesn’t value anything I value. I don’t want a government that tells me I can’t go to a restaurant, travel, do anything without a passport. It’s your choice what you do in this life. I don’t want a government that tells you you are not essential, you can’t go to work, you have to stay home. That’s not the Canada I envision for my children. I want to be able to dictate the values that my children represent. I want to be able to raise my children the way I value.”
He urged people to vote on their values.
“It is possible that if we change our vote, we can change this country,” said Minatel.
Canadians will go to the polls on Monday, Sept. 20.