People’s Party organizing in Summerland, Penticton
The People’s Party of Canada is hosting a pair of meetings to organize riding associations in both South Okanagan-West Kootenay and Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola.
A meeting for the COSN riding is scheduled for Saturday at 2 p.m. at the Summerland Community Arts and Culture Centre at 9525 Wharton St. A meeting for SOWK is scheduled for Nov. 25 at 2 p.m. at the Penticton library auditorium.
“We will be electing a board and we are setting up ridings all across Canada,” B.C. organizer Glen Walushka said in a phone interview. “We will be running candidates in all federal byelections, as well as in all 338 ridings in Canada in the 2019 federal election.”
Former Conservative MP Maxime Bernier is the party’s leader. The new party was formed shortly after Bernier resigned from the Conservatives in August. Walushka agrees time is limited between now and the Oct. 21, 2019 election, but organization is moving at a rapid pace.
“We have 32,000 members already Canada-wide, which includes about 130 members from the South Okanagan,” he said. “It does seem like it’s a monumental task, but growth has been explosive. There is a tremendous appetite for the policies of the People’s Party of Canada and Maxime Bernier has been on the political scene and well respected since 2006.
“We have members in their late teens up to octogenarians. It’s very similar to the start of the Reform Party in the late 1980s. We have some people who were around back then and they said the growth of the People’s Party of Canada is moving three times as fast as the Reform Party did.”
He said technology has made the process easier. Some ridings are spread over an eight-hour driving radius, but tools such as YouTube have made it easy to connect with a large number of people.
Walushka said there are several “well-qualified” candidates in both the COSN and SOWK ridings who have expressed interest in running under the new party’s banner, but would not disclose names. He promises announcements over the next several weeks. Anyone interested is invited to attend the meetings. The party’s platform is available at: peoplespartyofcanada.ca or maximebernier.com.