Fringe party would end virus lockdown
Libertarian candidates push personal freedoms when it comes to issues such as ICBC, COVID
If elected, a B.C. Libertarian government would end what it calls the “lockdown” associated with the COVID-19 pandemic.
At an election forum this week, Libertarian candidate Kyle Geronazzo, who is running in the riding of Kelowna-Lake Country, said the party has taken a leading role in support of major social change for 24 years.
“Since the B.C. Libertarian party was founded in 1986, we have been on the forefront of such important issues as the legalization of gay marriage, cannabis legalization, and, most relevant to this election, the ending of ICBC, and for us now, in 2020 we are the only provincial party that pledges to end the current lockdown, full stop,” he said.
“It is the Libertarian belief that the proper role of government during any time of pandemic should be the dissemination of as correct information as they can present to the people so that the free people can choose how to live their lives and how to approach safety willingly and of their own volition,” Geronazzo said.
On other issues, Geronazzo said the Libertarians believe in selling Crown land to individual British
Columbians, abolishing the Agricultural Land Reserve, implementing free trade between all provinces, and reducing red-tape at the municipal level to make housing more affordable.
Matt Badura represented the Libertarians at a separate election forum for candidates running in the riding of Kelowna West. Badura mentioned his family had fled Communist Poland in the early 1989, and he said he saw an emerging tendency to authoritarian government in Canada.
“I’m quite appreciative of the opportunities that we have here in B.C. and all across the country, but I feel our government is moving more and more toward creating a dependence on social services, more towards authoritarian-type policies and measures,” Badura said.
On specific issues, Badura said a Libertarian government would eliminate the speculation and vacancy tax, support construction of the TransMountain pipeline, reduce or eliminate subsidies to businesses, and give more autonomy to First Nations.
In the 2017 provincial election, the BC Libertarian party ran 39 candidates who collectively received 0.4 per cent of all votes cast.