People’s Party fails to challenge Tories

It likely wasn’t the breakthrough Maxime Bernier was hoping for.

Bernier’s fledgling People’s Party of Canada was not expected to win a seat in Monday’s three federal byelections. But his right-of-right populist movement failed to crack two per cent of the vote share in the Conservative bastion of York-Simcoe, raising questions about how much of a threat his new party poses to his former one.

Bernier told the Star Tuesday that he was encouraged by the overall results across the three byelections — his candidate got more than 10 per cent of the ballots in Burnaby South, and just over two per cent in Outremont — but was “disappointed” in the Ontario race.

“We just have to work harder. We don’t have the same organization on the ground like the three traditional old parties,” the former Conservative Party member said, “but we will work on that to be sure we’ll be ready for the next election.”

But Christian Bourque, executive vice-president of the polling firm Léger, said the problem for Bernier in Ontario’s conservative heartland might be more than just a lack of organization. Bourque suggested that right-leaning voters would coalesce around the right-leaning candidate who is most likely to win.

“In traditional sort-of Conservative territory — Western Ontario, the 905— (the People’s Party) should not be a problem because the right want the right-wing candidate to win,” said Bourque.