A Nanaimo woman is one of the first-ever candidates for the People鈥檚 Party of Canada.
PPC members in Nanaimo-Ladysmith chose Jennifer Clarke as the party鈥檚 potential byelection candidate at a meeting Saturday in the north end.
Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson was chosen to represent the PPC in Burnaby South as the party seeks to be prepared for 鈥渢he two upcoming B.C. byelections,鈥� according to its Facebook page.
Clarke said she thinks a byelection in Nanaimo-Ladysmith will happen 鈥渇airly shortly鈥� and said the People鈥檚 Party of Canada will have a strong presence in the campaign. She said PPC leader Maxime Bernier 鈥� who is expected to visit the riding as soon as this week 鈥� is an 鈥渁mazing鈥� speaker and person with a strong message and a lot of good leadership qualities.
鈥淲e鈥檝e got people from all the parties realizing that they鈥檙e wanting something fresh and new, that has integrity, that is honest, that鈥檚 doing politics differently, that is listening to the people,鈥� she said.
Clarke ran for school trustee in the October local government election, falling about 2,300 votes short, and then tried in November for the .
鈥淔or the sake of getting [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] out, I wanted to stay united as much as possible,鈥� Clarke said. 鈥淏ut I realized that this is a much more positive platform, where [Bernier] is here for all Canadians.鈥�
Clarke suggested she has a lot of freedom of speech to speak about the issues important to her built right into the party platform.
鈥淚 think that鈥檚 part of what Canada needs, is to have those freedoms back implemented with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms 鈥� the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, all the different freedoms 鈥� to be really promoted because I think at this point we鈥檝e been losing ground in those areas,鈥� she said.
Shannon Kewley, PPC provincial organizer who will manage the campaigns in both Burnaby South and Nanaimo-Ladysmith, said Clarke is a bright, knowledgeable candidate who already has community support.
Kewley said the People鈥檚 Party of Canada was able to set up 42 electoral district associations in nine weeks and said there are strong boards in place that are ready to go and are raising money.
鈥淚t is amazing. We鈥檝e got so many people coming to us from all parties 鈥� from the NDP, from the Liberals, from the Conservatives 鈥� because their leaders and their platforms, they have nothing to offer, and especially in British Columbia,鈥� Kewley said. 鈥淢axime is just resonating with British Columbians with his common-sense approach.鈥�
Clarke is holding a meet and greet today, Jan. 8, from 1:30-8 p.m. at Kiwanis Manor at 1201 Kiwanis Cres.
editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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