Rick Stewart is running for the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) in the upcoming federal election.
Stewart jointed the PPC after becoming disenfranchised with Conservative leader Andrew Scheer, throwing his support behind Maxime Bernier, the former cabinet minister who splintered off the Tories and formed his own political party.
A Nelson-area resident, Stewart is a a retired professional forester and a former member of the Canadian Forces. He ran for the Conservative nomination in Kootenay-Columbia but came up short to Rob Morrison.
After Bernier formed the PPC, Stewart joined their ranks and was nominated as the riding’s candidate.
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“There’s a lot of people out there that I think are pretty concerned with what’s happening in Canada, to our democracy,” said Stewart. “They’re not comfortable with the information they’re given by the news, they’re not comfortable with some of the ways candidates are campaigning.
“They want a new and different approach. They want principled and accountable politicians working in their best interests, and that’s what I’m trying to do.”
Stewart, who has been out meeting with volunteers and distributing signs, railed against climate change alarmism and emphasized his support for the natural resources industry.
“And I really strongly support our natural resource industries, and that includes forestry, mining, oil and gas. We will not be dissuaded,” Stewart said. “We will push back on the narrative that says climate change is going to cause great environmental disaster over the next few years.
“That’s just a ludicrous statement. It’s wrong to teach that to our kids in school and it’s wrong to want to put thousands of people out of work. We’re not going down that road and if all the other politicians want to virtue-signal and be politically correct and swallow that bull-pucky, that’s up to them. They can rest on those laurels, but we are not going down that road.”
The PPC platform calls for ending official multiculturalism, reducing immigration and cutting funding to the United Nations.
“Everyone else is willing to send our tax dollars overseas to the United Nations to fight climate change by reducing CO2 in other countries and we’re talking billions of dollars,” Stewart said.
“I can’t even get a straight answer when I research how much money Canada is shovelling into the United Nations and their crooked agendas. Immigration out of control. We don’t even have housing for our own citizens and we want to bring in 450,000 immigrants a year? That’s ridiculous and we’re not going down that road.”
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