March 29, 2024
The sometimes unexpected people drawn to Maxime Bernier and his People's Party
What is clear is that while he’s drawing from this well, he’s also drawing from those who, like Jarrett Page, have been conservatives their whole lives and are looking for something else, and see little difference between O’Toole and Trudeau. “The pandemic has absolutely influenced that,” Page said.

Priscilla Campos wasn’t the sort you might have expected to find at a rally for the People’s Party of Canada.

She’s vegan, all-organic and went about barefoot, wearing a flowing dress and a blue jewel on her forehead. She formed a marked contrast to the older men in camouflage and the bearded young men in the crowd.

Campos, accompanied by her dog, Drifter, called for a “spiritual revolution” to unite people who have been kept apart by lockdowns and social distancing; she worried about whether or not the COVID-19 vaccines were vegan-friendly.

“I’m a freedom fighter,” she said. “The new way is about love and light and supporting one another.”

A few hundred supporters, representing a cross-section of suburban Albertans — and a few unexpected characters, too — gathered at a park in Edmonton last Saturday to hear a speech from Maxime Bernier, the People’s Party leader.

The crowd represented a fairly usual selection of those you’d expect to find at a conservative rally. There were “F–k Trudeau” shirts and “I’m just a dad trying not to raise Liberals,” shirts, as well as pro-oil and gas accoutrements and the odd “Make Canada Great Again” hat. There were men and women, young and old, largely, but not exclusively, white.

Bernier’s speech touched on a number of his rhetorical staples: He promised to defund the CBC and pull foreign aid funding, thereby balancing the budget; he took shots at Erin O’Toole, whom he accused of being a secret Liberal, and promised to force through pipeline construction.

But he also devoted considerable time to COVID-19 public-health measures and vaccine policies, the issue that, seemingly, united those there to hear him speak, and that Bernier and many in the crowd associate with a loss of freedom.

[Interesting Read]

See Also:

(1) With gains across the country, the PPC could be a ‘potential spoiler’ in the election: Nanos

(2) We know who the PPC voters are. Here’s what they believe

(3) Why Maxime Bernier’s rise could secure Trudeau’s re-election

(4) Benier calls Kenney ‘despot’ after new COVID lockdowns (Jack: There’s more than a little truth in that accusation.)

(5) Conspiracies, ‘freedom’ cries, no masks: Maxime Bernier’s area blitz

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BTDT
BTDT
September 17, 2021 8:26 am

The only thing I ever knew (or care to know) about twitter is that it is a sound that birds make.