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PPC candidates look to the future

The Sasktoon PPC will continue to abide by the beliefs of party leader Maxime Bernier.
Maxime Bernier5
Maxime Bernier, seated, hands over the cap of a supporter after signing it during Monday night's election rally at the Saskatoon Inn.

SASKATOON — Kevin Boychuk and Mark Friesen believe good things will soon come for the People’s Party of Canada as they continue to push forward the movement that former Conservative Party member Maxime Bernier started three years ago. Both ran under PPC with the former the candidate for the Saskatoon-West riding and the later for the MP post of Saskatoon-Grasswood.

Bernier lost his bid to reclaim his MP seatin the Beauce riding while the party also failed to win a seat at Parliament but increased its presence in Canadian politics after getting more than five per cent of the popular vote compared to the 1.6 percent it gained two years ago. And if Monday night’s election rally at the Saskatoon Inn is to be the basis, PPC support is going stronger as hundreds turned out wearing the party’s signature colour — purple.

“The party is gaining ground, absolutely. I mean, it’s obvious that we’ve got a stronger message out. [PPC] has spoken about a free-based platform and freedom is an essential right. Human rights are essential. Where was that in this election?” Boychuck said to SASKTODAY minutes after PPC leader Bernier addressed the crowd gathered at the conference centre election night.

He added that the “politics of fear” is the dominant message in this election.

“Looks like it is winning. We [PPC] are advocating for no fear of politics. And some people are offended by that. I fail to understand the logic of that. I mean I'm thankful for [everyone] that have supported us, we've obviously moved the needle by the looks of early polling that I've seen, I haven't seen the final results. But percentages are obviously up from the last election.”

Boychuck ran for the Ward 1 city councillor post in the November 2020 elections and lost by a slim margin of 58 (1,639 against 1,583) votes to incumbent Dareen Hill. He earned 6.4 per cent of the vote to finish fourth behind Conservative MP Bradd Redekopp. Friesen, meanwhile, was fourth in his riding with 4.8 per cent — his support increasing three-fold compared to the 1.4 per cent he gained two years ago.

Friesen said the party would continue to push for its principles-based platforms.

“We have seen incredible growth over the last two years, from 2019 to this election. We stand on our principles. We stand on values. We’re not going to change. We planted our flag over here. The Overton Window is going to come to where we are and it’s moving in that direction.”

“We can see if we can see this groundswell of support, and it's those values that are going to drive more people to the party. So, we're going to continue on doing exactly what we do. And sooner or later regular Canadians are going to understand what we represent.”

Oxford dictionary describes the Overton Window as “the spectrum of ideas on public policy and social issues considered acceptable by the general public at a given time.”

Boychuck also believes that the established parties — Liberals, Conservatives and NDP — are all the same especially in handling the current COVID-19 pandemic.

“I mean, actually I'm surprised that there's so much division among the parties.

“They all have the same message it's just a matter of the different levels of restrictions they want to place on us. You know, people want radical socialism/communism imposed on them. I guess that's what you have to vote for, that's what people are happy with. I'm not comfortable with it.”

Friesen also sees the same among the three major political parties.

“There's very little daylight between any of the establishment parties. And if you look at policies you look at the values. I mean there's, there's this vast area between the establishment and the PPC.”

“So that's, that's where we are. That's why we planted the flag and that's where we're going to stay. More and more people are going to get frustrated with the establishment. We’re not going to stop, we will just keep we keep growing as we have, and sooner or later we're going to bust through.”