ESTEVAN - One of the candidates hoping to be on the ballot for the Conservative Party’s leadership race brought his campaign to Estevan on Saturday night.
Saskatchewan entrepreneur Joseph Bourgault, who hails from the St. Brieux area, spoke to supporters at the Beefeater Plaza. He’s well-connected to the Estevan area, as his son-in-law Ryan Olson is from the Estevan area originally and the campaign manager for Bourgault.
Bourgault said he is running for the Tory leadership because it’s the party he identifies with philosophically, and he has supported the party since 1976.
“The country is headed in the wrong direction, and I believe I have developed the ideas over the past 40 years, since I’ve been studying this. When I was 26 years old, I started studying this, and I put a lot of time and energy into it, aside from growing our businesses, to see why someone like Pierre Trudeau was elected (as prime minister) for so many years,” said Bourgault.
Bourgault said he has concerns about the ‘tax and spend’ policies of the elder Trudeau, and he sees the same problems from Trudeau’s son, current Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“They need a leader that has the ideas and the leadership skills, the moral character that can’t be corrupted, because there’s too much corruption in our politics now,” he said.
Bourgault declared his candidacy on March 10 and has submitted his paperwork to the national Conservative Party office. He’s waiting for a reply on whether he is an eligible candidate.
“I went through the questionnaire, and there’s nothing in there that would preclude me in that way,” he said.
A national campaign office is located in Calgary, and he has been travelling a lot through Alberta and Saskatchewan to meet people. He expects he’ll venture outside of those two provinces once he meets the targets to be in the race.
“We have to collect over 500 signatures and have them submitted by April 29th, and we have to collect $300,000 and have that submitted by April 29th,” said Bourgault.
The maximum amount he can donate to his own campaign is $25,000, and the maximum any Canadian can donate is $1,675.
There are also tough regulations on expenses, he said, so the top priority is raising funds and collecting signatures. He believes they have 60 per cent of the signatures and 25 per cent of the funds.
“It’s important for me to get in front of people and to share my message to see the policies, the vision, the core values and the principles that I would bring to the table,” said Bourgault.
His campaign motto is “Truth, Freedom and Justice,” and he said that’s how he manages his businesses. Describing himself as a fiscal and social conservative, he said he’s had a good response from audiences, but he concedes the people attending are like-minded.
He has expressed support for the trucker convoy to Ottawa earlier this year.
Bourgault expressed support for further investment in carbon capture and storage technology, and he believes he has an awareness of the issues facing the Estevan area.
“I think Canada is one of the cleanest energy-producing countries in the world, and I want to get rid of the carbon tax because I believe that it’s driving jobs out of our country,” said Bourgault.
He suggested significant tax reform in which the basic income tax deduction would be raised from $12,000 to $50,000 over four years, and he would encourage other provinces to do the same.
“That’s the point of profitability for an individual. We don’t tax businesses before they’re profitable, so why are we taxing our citizens before they’re profitable?”
Six candidates have been verified or approved, and five more, including Bourgault, have declared an interest in the leadership. Bourgault noted the number of signatures have been lowered from 3,000, making it easier for people to vie for the leadership. Bourgault believes that was a step forward to give supporters a healthy list of candidates.
In the last leadership race in 2020, there were four options.
Bourgault said he’s concerned about the other candidates running for the leadership.
“I don’t want to see a leader that is being controlled by outside forces, entities or globalists, or global organizations outside of Canada. Our sovereignty is at stake right now, and it’s essential that the leader be a leader who is dedicated, completely 100 per cent committed, to serving the Canadian people and I don’t see that right now in any of the people that are in there,” Bourgault said.
Estevan was part of a tour of the province that took him to seven Saskatchewan communities in four days.
