Wayne Sturby, Provencher’s candidate for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC), lives in Lorette with his wife Margaret. Together they are the proud parents to two children and grandparents to five.
The People’s Party of Canada is a new federal party established in the fall of 2018 by Maxime Bernier, a former cabinet minister for the Conservatives. Bernier began to build the People’s Party after losing to Andrew Scheer in the Conservative Party leadership race in 2017.
In 2016, Sturby ran as a candidate for the newly created Manitoba Party. While he wasn’t elected, he gained valuable political experience. In November 2018, he joined the People’s Party and became president of that party’s Provencher Riding Association.
“I decided to run for the PPC a couple of months ago… because of the fantastic policies that put the interests of Canada and its citizens above everything else,” Sturby says. “I could no longer support the [Conservatives] after Andrew Scheer made it clear in which direction he was taking the party.”
His choice to join the People’s Party, he says, is largely due to their commitment to put Canada first in all of their policies. He was also impressed by the pillars on which they stand—freedom, fairness, respect, and responsibility. Freedom, he says, includes a Canadian’s right to own firearms. Responsibility entails holding elected officials accountable for unethical behaviour.
In his opinion, two ideologies separate political parties: right-wing and left-wing thinking. Left-wing thinking, he says, leans on governmental control of the people. In contrast, right-wing thinkers believe foremost in the rights of individual citizens, limiting the government’s role to protecting those rights.
“Most political parties have moved further and further left and have extended more and more powers to the government,” Sturby says. “This… makes the individual [citizen] a servant to the government instead of the other way around.”
The People’s Party platform this election includes a pledge to create a fairer taxation policy for Canadians, putting money back into people’s pockets. As well, they plan to take a more sensible approach to immigration.
“The PPC recognizes the contributions of those who have immigrated to our country and we value them, but we do not want to compromise our safety, our values, our traditions, and our fundamental respect for our constitution,” says Sturby. “Our immigration policy will require new immigrants to assimilate to our Canadian values and to our way of life.”
Supporters of the People’s Party say that their concerns lie with immigrants who come to Canada primarily to take advantage of its generous social programs.
Finally, Sturby adds, the People’s Party will not pander to special interest groups and won’t create individual policies that apply to specific provinces.
“We only have policies for all of Canada and the PPC is the only party to clearly state that we will fix the equalization payments formula,” Sturby says.
He further believes that Provencher is home to many individuals who still cherish traditional values and are fearful of having their voices silenced.
“We are a diverse country with many different points of view, but there has been an escalating frontal attack on those who are not ‘politically correct’ and who don’t support the new PC ideology,” Sturby says.
