The People's Party of Canada (, PPC) is a federal political party in Canada. The party was formed by Maxime Bernier in September 2018, shortly after his resignation from the Conservative Party of Canada. It is placed on the right to far right of the left–right political spectrum.
Bernier, a former candidate for the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election and cabinet minister, was the party's only Member of Parliament (MP) from its founding in 2018 to his defeat in the 2019 Canadian federal election. The PPC formed electoral district associations (EDAs) in 326 ridings, and ran candidates in 315 ridings, of Canada's total 338 ridings, in the 2019 federal election; however, no candidate was elected under its banner and Bernier lost his bid for personal re-election in Beauce. The party ran 312 candidates in the 2021 Canadian federal election; none were elected to parliament, despite it increasing its share of the popular vote to nearly five per cent.
The party has been described primarily as conservative with right-wing populist and right-libertarian policies. Specific policies advocated by the party include reducing immigration to Canada to 150,000 entrants per year, scrapping the Canadian Multiculturalism Act, withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, ending corporate welfare, and ending supply management. In the 2021 federal election, the PPC also ran in opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions, vaccine passports, and compulsory vaccinations.
History
Formation
The PPC was formed a few weeks after the resignation of Maxime Bernier, a candidate in the 2017 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election and former cabinet minister from the Conservative Party of Canada. In his resignation speech, Bernier stated that he was leaving because "I've come to realize... this party is too intellectually and morally corrupt to be reformed." Bernier also stated that under opposition leader Andrew Scheer, to whom Bernier finished runner-up in the 2017 party leadership election, the Conservative Party had abandoned its principles on issues including political correctness, corporate welfare, equalization payments reform, and supply management. In a National Post op-ed, Bernier stated that his motive for forming the party was to reverse the public choice dynamic in the Canadian political system resulting in vote-buying and pandering by political parties. He reiterated his belief that the Conservative Party could not be reformed to end this practice, and that a new political party was required.
Bernier was accused by prominent Conservative politicians such as former prime ministers Stephen Harper and Brian Mulroney of trying to divide the political right. He responded on the CBC Television show Power & Politics that he wanted to focus on disaffected voters, and cited the political rise of French president Emmanuel Macron as an example. Bernier later cited the breakthrough of the People's Alliance of New Brunswick in the 2018 New Brunswick general election and the Coalition Avenir Québec win in 2018 Quebec general election as examples of voters' disdain for traditional political parties and expressing a desire for change by voting for new parties.
Prior to his resignation from the Conservative Party, Bernier had begun reestablishing contact with individuals who had supported his 2017 Conservative leadership bid; they believed he had the necessary support to register a party with Elections Canada. Le Devoir reported that members of seven Conservative constituency associations defected to the party. A few days after announcing the party name, Libertarian Party of Canada leader Tim Moen, who had previously offered the leadership of that party to Bernier, stated that he was open to the idea of a merger with the People's Party. When asked by Global News, Bernier indicated he had no interest in a merger. In early September 2018, The Canadian Nationalist Party reached out to People's Party "to see if there would be any interest in possibly co-operating with the Canadian Nationalist Party." Bernier declined any further discussions with Patron.
When asked about organizing by the party, he mentioned that he would use tools that did not exist in the past, such as the use of social media.