Canada has a new party on the ballot this year, The People’s Party Of Canada. The bloc was founded by Maxime Bernier, following his resignation from The Conservative Party Of Canada. The candidate running in Oakville is JD Meaney, a young man enthused to be representing a fresh, new political body.
A source of inspiration for JD’s campaign was the state of our democracy. “I think our democracy is under threat and, our biggest cornerstone would freedom of speech. I think in any democracy whether, in Australia or Europe or The United States, freedom of speech is one of the most important freedoms we have,” JD remarks.
JD says, “it’s fantastic,” to be running for a newly formed party. “I can tell you there is no corruption in a new party. It may not stay that way forever, but right now there isn’t and it has a lot of safety, which is very important.”
“One of the biggest things we have to do is balance the budget within two years,” he says. His party would accomplish this by cutting subsidies to companies like SNC Lavalin, Bombardier, Facebook and Google. Additionally, they would back out of foreign aid, to ensure the debt is controlled. “Part of the money we reduce in foreign aid would be given towards native reserves,” Meaney explains.
A contentious element of the PPC’s platform is cutting back immigration levels. “So what we’re actually doing is increasing skilled and merit immigration. Right now our country takes in 25% of economic immigrants and the rest come from mass immigration.” He explains to me how immigrants who might have been doctors or accountants in their country of origin can’t get a job in Canada. “We want to establish an immigration system where people are coming in and they have a purpose. It’s unfair to Canada’s immigrants who come to Canada and can’t find work and it’s a burden to the system.”
The PPC’s platform on climate change mentions rejecting alarmism and focusing on concrete improvements. Mr. Meaney reveals they want to create a green energy hub in Canada, so leaders from around the world will come to Canada and develop solutions to pollution. “China and India are responsible for 45% of the pollution in the world. So the biggest thing is having leaders come to Canada and develop technology to fight climate change so we can export this technology to those heavy polluters.”
JD thinks what differentiates him in Oakville is his age. He is the youngest candidate in the race. “I think I have experience when it comes to the cost of living for young people in Canada,” he says. “Also tying back into our new party…we don’t have any ties. We are a brand new, rapidly growing party, with over 40 000 members.”