First Kelowna meeting of People’s Party of Canada deemed a success
Maxine Bernier didn’t have time to dial into the founding meeting of his party’s branch in Kelowna.
But that didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the 45 people who gathered at the downtown library to set up a Kelowna-Lake Country constituency association of the People’s Party of Canada.
“It was an incredibly energized room,” PPC organizer Glen Walushka said Sunday. “In terms of age, experience, and skill-sets, we had a very diverse group of people turn out.”
There were contested elections for six of the seven positions on the newly-formed board of directors, which Walushka says represented the depth of commitment party members are willing to show to the new organization.
“People really want to be involved, and not just as supporters,” he said.
About 130 PPC memberships had been sold online to residents of the Kelowna-Lake Country riding before the weekend, and Walushka says the fact about one-third of them showed up at the Saturday meeting also shows people are eager to take active roles with the organization.
Daniel Joseph, general manager of several Dairy Queen franchises, was elected riding president.
Bernier, who quit the Conservative Party of Canada in August to form the People's Party of Canada, had been expected to place a call to the Kelowna gathering.
But Bernier, who was in Calgary on Sunday, was busy with media interviews there and his schedule didn’t allow for the phone call, Walushka said.
With the constituency association formed, expectations are the party will select a candidate for Kelowna-Lake Country by March at the latest. The next federal election is in October 2019. “We’re expecting to have some good candidates come forward for the nomination,” Walushka said.
The inaugural meeting for the PPC’s constituency association in the riding of Central Okanagan-Similkameen-Nicola, which includes a large part of Kelowna and all of West Kelowna, will be held this Saturday in Summerland.
Bernier lost the Conservative leadership race to Andrew Scheer on the last vote earlier this year.
Among the platforms in the right-of-centre People’s Party of Canada are a call to dismantle the supply-management system for Canada's dairy industry, and lowering the number of immigrants allowed into the country.