3 weeks Ago By Noah Brennan
People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier took aim at both mainstream federal party leaders and positioned the PPC as a distinct alternative to the Conservatives during a Calgary campaign stop on Tuesday. During a morning press conference outside the Harry Hays building in downtown Calgary, Bernier drew sharp contrasts between his platform and that of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, making bold promises on issues such as government spending, climate change, immigration and U.S.
-Canada trade tensions. With less than two weeks until election day, the press conference marked Bernier’s first Calgary appearance of the 2025 federal campaign. He is the second federal leader to visit Calgary during the campaign, following Liberal Leader Mark Carney’s rally last week .
Joined by several PPC candidates running in Calgary-area ridings, the PPC leader kicked off his remarks raising concerns about federal overreach in provincial affairs and what he called “the erosion of provincial autonomy.” “The federal government now interferes in many areas where it has no business, such as healthcare, education, natural resources, housing, local infrastructures and many other domains that are explicitly under provincial jurisdictions,” he said. Bernier argued this federal “intrusion” creates inefficiencies and a lack of accountability.
“By concentrating power in Ottawa, the federal government is eroding the ability of provinces to govern efficiently and respond to the needs of their citizens.” He said federal interference “feeds” separatist movements in Alberta and Quebec . “It is time for Ottawa to mind its own business,” he said.
The fringe party made notable gains in Alberta in the last federal election, more than doubling its vote share in all of its Calgary ridings. It outperformed the Liberals in part of rural Alberta, earning as much as 10 per cent of votes in rural Alberta ridings. Despite these gains, the party failed to win a single seat nationally.
The PPC captured 7.3 per cent of the Alberta vote and 6.8 per cent in Saskatchewan in the last federal election — its strongest provincial showings.
Nationally, the party earned 4.9 per cent of votes. However, national polling shows declining support for the party in a tight race between the Conservatives and Liberals.
The latest 338Canada national polling aggregates show the party having around one per cent of votes. The party’s platform in this election seems largely focused on drawing lines with the federal conservatives, amid concerns about conservative vote-splitting and political experts speculating the party’s supporters will cast their vote for the Conservatives to avoid a Liberal win. ‘There’s no such thing as vote splitting,’ says Bernier Bernier did not seem concerned about waning party support on Tuesday.
He likened a vote for the Conservatives to one for the Liberals, claiming both parties have similar stances on climate policy and their approach to U.S. trade tensions.
“Conservative government or a Liberal government, it won’t change anything for Albertans and for Canadians,” he said. He said the Liberal party has one goal: “to centralize even more power in Ottawa.” “But Pierre Poilievre and his fake conservatives won’t do anything either,” he added.
“The Conservative party is only conservative in one sense — it conserves everything the Liberals have done.” Bernier likened a vote for the Conservatives to one for the Liberals, accusing both parties of having similar stances on climate policy and their approach to U.S.
trade tensions. He said both Carney and Poilievre are “ready to go on” with the trade war with the U.S.
and criticized the use of counter tariffs. “If you want to work for Canadians, you need to not impose any counter tariffs and have a new deal with Trump as soon as possible. “The conservatives and the liberals are telling Canadians that our enemy is Donald Trump,” he said.
“Our enemy is not Donald Trump. We can have a deal with him.” On the issue of vote-splitting, Bernier pushed back against claims that PPC votes could help re-elect the Liberals.
“There’s no such thing as vote splitting,” he said. “People own their own vote, so you must vote for the party that is in line with your values. “If you want real changes, you need to vote in line with your values.
” ‘Everything can happen,’ says Bernier on electoral chances Among the PPC’s goals this election are growing its vote share and winning its first seat in Parliament. While the last campaign focused heavily on personal freedom and opposition to pandemic restrictions, Bernier said the 2025 platform is about mass immigration. “At the last election, the main issue was .
. . the draconian measures that our governments, provincial governments and federal governments did impose on us,” he said.
“I want this election to be an election on mass immigration.” He indicated Alberta was home to key battlegrounds for the party, given its past support. “There’s a lot of people in Alberta who understand that we need to do bold reform in this country, and we are the only party that is ready to do that with them.
“We have a lot of support in Alberta,” he said. Despite national polling suggesting a two-party race, Bernier said he’s confident in the PPC’s ability to surprise on election night. “We still have two weeks.
Everything can happen,” he said. “Our goal is to make history at this election.” Bernier is set to meet with supporters at a rally in Calgary on Tuesday evening.
The federal election is set for April 28. To learn more about who’s running in your riding and the focus of their campaigns, check out our list of federal election candidates in Calgary and Southern Alberta..
