People’s Party of Canada

The People’s Party of Canada (PPC) was founded in September 2018 by Maxime Bernier a month after he left the Conservative Party. It was officially recognized by Elections Canada in January 2019. Bernier, who represented Beauce, Quebec, was the PPC’s only Member of Parliament. In the 2019 federal election campaign, the party fielded candidates in every province and territory. However, the PPC failed to elect a single candidate to Parliament in the October 2019 federal election. Party leader Maxime Bernier lost his riding in Beauce, Quebec, and the party received only 1.6% of the popular vote.

According to Bernier, he drew 90 per cent of the PPC’s platform from Canada’s populist conservative Reform Party (1987–2000). The party has also been described as libertarian and promotes “small” government and freedom from censorship. PPC free-market goals include an expanded oil and gas industry and removal of trade barriers between provinces. It also wants to withdraw Canada from the Paris Accord and scrap the federal carbon tax, stating there is “no scientific consensus” that carbon emissions caused by human activity cause global warming. The PPC wants to repeal Canada’s Multiculturalism Act (see Multiculturalism), cut immigration levels by half and restrict the influx of refugees.

The party has been linked to white supremacists and the far right. Its founding members, for example, included associates of anti-immigrant organizations Pegida Canada and the Soldiers of Odin. Party rallies and Bernier’s campaign appearances have drawn vocal protests and, in some cases, violent clashes between supporters and anti-fascist demonstrators.