RICK PETERSON BELIEVES THAT THERE IS A ‘WIDE OPEN SPOT’ IN THE TORY LEADERSHIP RACE FOR INVENTIVE POLICY IDEAS. AND ON THE ALBERTA BUSINESSMAN’S CHECKLIST IS A PLAN TO ABOLISH FEDERAL CORPORATE INCOME TAXES.
Alberta businessman Rick Peterson believes there is a “wide open spot” in the Conservative leadership race for some inventive policy ideas and he will launch his campaign in Edmonton Wednesday with a plan to abolish federal corporate income taxes.
Peterson will also tout a 15 per cent federal flat tax as he looks to shake up a race that has seen front-runner Peter Mackay scooping up caucus endorsements and rival Erin O’toole making headlines with sharp attacks on Mackay in the early days of the campaign.
“From what I’ve seen so far, I just haven’t seen any policy,” said Peterson, in an interview with the National Post. “And we’ve got a lot of policy.”
Peterson’s speech on Wednesday will focus on themes of innovation and creative disruption, using Canadian entrepreneurial successes like Shopify and Skip The Dishes as examples of how the Conservative party should embrace risk-taking. Peterson will announce a plan “to make Canada the boldest, most disruptive place on Earth.”
In his speech, Peterson will also promise to rip up Bill C-48, which restricted tanker traffic along B.C.’S north coast, and rewrite Bill C-69, which changed how major projects in Canada are approved. Peterson will also promise to replace the federal carbon tax with a levy on heavy emitters, promote competition in the telecommunications sector, in the hopes of lowering cellphone bills, and rollback any federal firearms legislation instituted by the Liberal government.
The campaign hopes that a series of innovative ideas will drive media coverage and word-of-mouth with party members, especially if the two front-runners, former cabinet ministers Mackay and O’toole, run campaigns more on name-recognition than substance.
The plan draws inspiration from the policy-driven insurgency of Maxime Bernier in the party’s 2017 leadership race, which focused almost entirely on his promise to scrap Canada’s supply management program for dairy farmers. The proposal became an unlikely lightning rod, drawing fervent libertarian supporters and strong opposition from dairy farmers, and pushing Bernier to within a single percentage point of beating current leader Andrew Scheer in the contest. Peterson said that many of his second place votes in 2017 came from Bernier supporters who appreciated his plans for a flat tax.
Peterson’s biggest hurdle will be overcoming his underwhelming performance in that race, in which he finished 12th with less than one per cent of the vote. One person familiar with the current campaign staff described the current setup as a huge improvement from three years ago, where Peterson lacked any online presence and email network and relied almost exclusively on a plan to generate buzz with TV appearances and debates.
Six candidates have now publicly announced their plan to enter. Along with Peterson, there is Richard Décarie, a social conservative from Quebec; Marilyn Gladu, a two-term MP from southwestern Ontario; Derek Sloan, a rookie MP from eastern Ontario; along with Mackay and O’toole.