People’s Party takes root in Provencher

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This article was published 07/12/2018 (1966 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Lorette man has begun laying the groundwork for the People’s Party of Canada in Provencher.

Wayne Sturby says the nation’s newest political party has what it takes to shake up the political scene here in the Southeast and across the country next fall, when Canadians will head to the polls for a federal election.

Sturby is president of the PPC’s Provencher electoral district association, which held its first meeting last month in Steinbach’s Jake Epp Library.

The group’s executive committee plans to select a candidate “as early as possible next year,” Sturby said.

Once the riding of Churchill-Keewatinook Aski establishes a PPC association, the party will have roots in all 14 federal Manitoba ridings, and will begin a membership drive, Sturby said.

“I’m very anxious to get started.”

It isn’t the first foray into party politics for the 61-year-old corrections officer. In 2016, Sturby made an unsuccessful bid for the provincial Progressive Conservative nomination in Dawson Trail before picking up the mantle of the Manitoba Party in Winnipeg’s Wolseley constituency. He remains a Manitoba Party board member.

“I’ve been very politically interested for most of my life,” Sturby said Tuesday, who joined more than 200 other PPC supporters at a Winnipeg rally with the party’s leader, Maxime Bernier, six days earlier.

Bernier, a Quebec MP and former cabinet minister under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, founded the right-of-centre party in September, just weeks after he quit the Conservative caucus, calling it “intellectually and morally corrupt.”

Sturby said Bernier, who was narrowly defeated by Andrew Scheer in last year’s Conservative Party leadership race, possesses the principles needed to rejuvenate small-c conservativism and engage young and disillusioned voters.

Scheer has failed to hold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to account, resulting in question periods resembling “an episode of Just for Laughs,” Sturby said.

By contrast, Sturby believes Bernier is building “a party of conviction” that inspires right-leaning voters more than Scheer’s pragmatism.

“‘Whatever works’ is not a good formula for governing a country,” Sturby said.

He cited a trio of young people who attended the Provencher PPC’s first meeting and said they liked the party’s emphasis on freedom and personal choice.

The PPC’s platform “is still being finalized,” according to the party’s website, but Sturby will likely face challenges as he markets Bernier’s brand of conservativism in Provencher, a riding with population growth driven by immigration and an economy based on agriculture.

Bernier has strongly opposed supply-managed agricultural sectors, and tweeted about the dangers of “extreme multiculturalism,” but has had less to say on social issues.

Sturby shied away from taking a stance on hot-button social issues like abortion, and instead emphasized PPC ideals of freedom, responsibility, fairness, and respect. For instance, supply management violates the principle of fairness, he said, by “artificially manipulating” markets.

Sturby was confident the party’s emphasis on personal choice will appeal to both social and economic conservatives.

“We’re not going to be a party that dictates to people” what they should believe about social issues, he said, but added the party is committed to “a strong nuclear family” and “compassionate but prudent” immigration reform.

As a new party, Sturby said the PPC has a rare opportunity to foster slow and deliberate dialogue about social issues, rather than fan the flames of ideologically entrenched debates.

While some political onlookers wonder if the PPC will split the right-of-centre vote and hand another majority government to the Liberals, Sturby said conservative voters deserve more choice so they don’t feel obligated to support a status quo that no longer inspires them.

To that end, differentiating the PPC from the Conservative Party, and Bernier from Scheer, will be an important task for the Provencher PPC’s new candidate.

Given his prior experience at the provincial level, would Sturby himself run?

“I’m not going to rule anything out,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Green Party Provencher Riding Association announced in an email to supporters that Janine Gibson will once again be its election candidate.

Gibson has represented the Greens in numerous federal and provincial elections since 2004.