OUTLOOK - With just days before Canadians go to the polls this coming Monday, political parties are doing all they can to get their message out to constituents all across the country.
That was the case in Outlook on Friday night, September 10 when Chey Craik of the People's Party of Canada (PPC) made an appearance at the Legion Hall. Dozens of people showed up to hear Craik's message and make their feelings known about the current political landscape, several not feeling shy at all about making it known that they were "glad to finally have a candidate" on the federal stage that represented their beliefs and values.
Their marketing material explains that the PPC is about "bringing together common sense, populism, classical conservatism, and libertarianism" in order to create solutions to combat the challenges of everyday society.
Craik says the campaign has been busy and that people are looking for something different this time around.
"It's been a fantastic campaign," he said. "It's obviously a short election with only five weeks, but the amount of support we've been receiving from around the riding has been amazing. People are just sick of the same-old, same-old, and we've got to get out of this two-party cycle that we've been in for 152 years. They want something different, and people are telling us that they can't do the same thing that they've always done."
Outlook has long been a Conservative stronghold, but Craik says people are realizing that the Erin O'Toole-led party has shifted and gotten away from their core beliefs that grabbed peoples' attention in the first place.
"When people realize how far O'Toole and the Conservative Party shifted just in the last few years, and that they don't stand with them on things that we believe in, it's not that hard," he said. "People understand that they're going to get more of the same. When someone says that they've shifted more to the left to try and steal Trudeau's votes, that's not where we are. As conservatives, as Christians, as people with good conscience and common sense, we're on the right side. It's common sense, and that's what's going to get people over."
Craik says a People's Party government means sticking to focusing on Canadian issues and solving problems in-house, as opposed to the current "globalist agenda".
"It means a whole bunch," he said. "It means no more big government, it means no more foreign spending. We're going to cut our ties with the UN, we're going to quit sending money to Africa to pay for oats, and we're going to get out of this overarching globalist agenda and spend money back in Canada on Canadians. The government has no money without taxpayers, so it really is focusing on Canadian industry and focusing on Canadian technologies, getting manufacturing back in Canada. Building pipelines and getting people back to work."
Should he get the vote of constituents in Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan, Craik says his priority is being an active voice for the people he represents and he's not in it to sit back and collect a payday.
"I heard 'When I get voted in'," he said, smiling. "My priority is being the voice for Moose Jaw-Lake Centre-Lanigan that I don't feel we've had. I'll never be an empty seat in Ottawa, I'm not the kind of guy who just sits back and collects paychecks. It's not about a job for me, it's about representing and standing up for my kids, your kids, and all of us together. I'm going to fight for us until the end."
Canada goes to the polls this coming Monday night.
