SUMMERLAND 鈥 Another federal leader spent some time in the valley during the federal election campaign, as Maxime Bernier of the Peoples Party hosted a town hall in Summerland on Saturday.
Bernier told the crowd at the Harold Simpson Youth Centre that he realizes many right-of-centre Canadians 鈥 worried about the Liberals winning another election 鈥 want to vote strategically for the Conservatives. But he argues the PPC is more distinct from the CPC than the CPC is from the Liberals, especially after Prime Minister Mark Carney 鈥渟tole鈥 CPC leader Pierre Poilievresa国际传媒 plan to axe the carbon tax.
One attendee asked Bernier how he would prevent party insiders from meddling with local nomination races, citing the CPCsa国际传媒 decision to give candidacy in Similkameen-South Okanagan-West Kootenay to Helena Konanz rather than host a nomination meeting. (Four candidates were campaigning for the nomination.)
Bernier said the PPC prevents outsiders from 鈥渉ijacking鈥 it by allowing local members to have autonomy over their candidates in every riding.
He said many Canadians have been convinced that multiculturalism is completely positive, but argues that not every culture is good. He feels like most Canadians can appreciate his logic regarding immigration, but thinks the 鈥渓eft-wing media鈥 has corrupted public perception.
One of his major focuses is to lower public spending. His vision is to generate a surplus, and use the surplus to cut taxes.
The country can save tens of billions each year by cutting funding for a number of departments 鈥 CBC, corporate subsidies, healthcare, Indigenous Canadians, Bernier said, adding that he pitched an idea similar to Elon Musksa国际传媒 鈥淒epartment of Government Efficiency鈥 back in 2020.
鈥淟etsa国际传媒 have a smaller government,鈥 he said.
There was a couple who agreed with the plan to shrink government, but want to see reductions in upper and middle management, rather than the frontline workers. The man was wearing a red 鈥淢aple MAGA鈥 hat, and the woman complained about how many Indo Canadians are working as cashiers at Walmart and Superstore.
鈥淚tsa国际传媒 all across the country,鈥 Bernier responded to the comment about Indo Canadians.
The CCP and Liberals both claim there is a lack of manpower in Canada, Bernier says, which is why so much cheap foreign labour is relied upon.
鈥淣o, I鈥檓 not for that.鈥
If the employers offered competitive wages, they would be able to attract Canadian workers 鈥 particularly among young and semi-retired populations, Bernier says.
He doesn鈥檛 like how many layers of bureaucracy are involved with healthcare. Patients with inadequate coverage are left with no one to blame, he said, while responsibility should simply lay upon each province. The US has demonstrated that a fully private healthcare system is not ideal, so he proposes a two-tiered system for Canada, and cited Swedensa国际传媒 model as the worldsa国际传媒 best.
In the youth centre with a little more than two dozen attendees, Bernier wasn鈥檛 overly optimistic about his chances of success in the 2025 election. He pledged to mostly vote alongside the CPC, but will 鈥渟hame鈥 them when they鈥檙e not being real conservatives.
But he is feeling optimistic about the partysa国际传媒 long-term vision.
鈥淥ur time will come.鈥
Bernier was schedule to speak in Osoyoos later in the day.
