PPC candidate vies for CPC seat in Provencher

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This article was published 29/08/2021 (1345 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s not vaccinated, willing to admit it, and now the Ile des Chenes resident says he’s going to fight for residents’ freedom until they vote him into office.

Noel Gautron is the second candidate to represent the People’s Party of Canada for the Provencher riding, with PPC candidates now present in all 14 of Manitoba’s federal ridings for the upcoming election.

Started in 2018 by former cabinet minister and Conservative leadership candidate Maxime Bernier, the party is still in its infancy touting policy which would solve voter issues they say Conservatives have stood by but failed to act on, such as immigration and taxation.

A truck driver by trade, Gautron was born and raised in the Provencher area. In the 2019 federal election Gautron parachuted into the Elmwood-Transcona riding to represent the PPC Party after losing the nomination to then-candidate Wayne Sturby in Provencher. Gautron fell short in the riding on election night to incumbent Daniel Blaikie.

July saw Gautron back in the Provencher riding elected to represent the area for the People’s Party. As the party’s provincial coordinator, Gautron says it was Bernier’s bravery which attracted him to the party and their platform.

“There’s a lot of the base membership looking for specific policies, and just with the nature of how the Conservative Party runs itself as far as its constitutionality and how it elects its leaders, it ultimately will never serve the vast majority of its base,” he says. Gautron noted he notices the most overlap in the PPC membership base is with former New Democrat supporters.

Since its inception the PPC has put their principals at the forefront of the party’s mandate, and with COVID-19 at the top of mind for voters, Gautron says the party’s agenda of mandating freedom of choice, not vaccines or masks, is favourable to voters in the area.

“Generally, most of the policies people will agree with,” he said.

Asked about the effect lockdowns has had on the wellbeing of Canadians, Gautron said with higher numbers of suicides and overdoses a PPC government would lower the number of immigrants allotted across borders which would ultimately address inflated housing prices and job scarcity. Gautron distills many of the mental health issues incurred by young men to the influx of immigrants over the last number of years.

“People need a meaningful existence…these circumstances seem to deprive them of that.”

To protest lockdowns and public health orders mandated by the pandemic party leader Bernier hosted a series of rallies in Manitoba in June with stops slated in the Provencher riding. After attending two rallies, one in Niverville and the other in St Pierre, Bernier was arrested and charged with contravening provincial public health orders. At the time, any person entering Manitoba was mandated to self-isolate for 14 days.

Gautron said the arrest helped, rather than hindered, the party’s objectives.

“People are just generally agitated that nobody took a notice to their suffering,” he said of the reason residents showed up at the rallies. During his speeches on June 11 Bernier promised if elected he would put an end to “draconian” restrictions the federal government implemented to slow the spread of COVID-19.

While some would classify the PPC party as ‘anti-COVID’ or ‘anti-mask’ Gautron maintains they’re not, but merely ‘pro-freedom of choice.’ He said his decision to not be vaccinated comes not from a disdain for vaccines, but his choice to refrain from receiving a jab until more research is done, calling it a “fairly new technology.”

“The whole reason I’m disclosing is not that I agree that we need to disclose our vaccination status. The reason I’m disclosing it is that to a larger extent, we need to actually be able to say things in our political circles. If there is that that fear of taking that stance, whether it be my position on vaccines, or otherwise, it’s we’re once again not communicating effectively.”

Provencher incumbent Falk has yet to disclose his vaccination status, though Gautron says that doesn’t necessarily hurt his political platform, citing media and established political parties has turned vaccine status into a political issue.

Gautron said while Falk represents Provencher constituents “well” he takes issue with the larger party structure; he says in order to level the political playing field the PPC’s need to exist.

“If you have those three left-of-center parties, you’re going to have a continuous draw to the left. As whatever the right of center party is we’ll need to target swing voters. So with that aspect, you need somebody tying down the right flank,” he said.

Gautron also says he’ll address firearms legislation and work to remove equalization payments, turning GST points back to Manitoba which he says will result in an extra $200 million in the province’s pocket.

As for his constituents, Gautron said mounting national debt and abortion are top of mind for them.

“If you care about your freedoms, now is the time to vote for them.”