The leader of the People’s Party of Canada was met with both support and some opposition during his stop in Windsor.
Maxime Bernier was greeted by a crowd of around 200 supporters at the Ciociaro Club on Monday night.
Bernier told the crowd that the People's Party of Canada (PPC) movement has been a success so far, amassing around 40,000 members. According to Bernier, he's been getting plenty of support on the campaign trail, stating that people have told him they appreciate his "different" form of politics.
"30 per cent of Canadians didn't vote in the last election," said Bernier. "I can tell you that when I'm [running] all across the country...people are telling me 'Maxime, [this] will be the first time that I will vote at the federal level. I [ask them] why? They say 'you're doing politics differently and I like your principle approach to politics.'"
Bernier also took aim at what he called the "traditional" way of campaigning and doing politics.
"Taking your money and buying votes with your own money, we don't do that," he said
Although Bernier said he's received plenty of support from Canadians, it wasn't all love on Monday night. Around two dozen protesters gathered in front of the Ciociaro Club for a peaceful rally.
Bree Arbor, one of the protesters, said the group was made up of likeminded individuals from across Windsor-Essex who came together to express their opposition for the People's Party. Arbor called the party's views dangerous.
"We don't appreciate the Ciaraco hosting Maxime Bernier and we don't appreciate these people in our community basically openly endorsing what we find to be incredibly hateful, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, transphobic views...we want to show that this is unacceptable," said Arbor. "It's the whole right-wing populous movement that is represented by this party, by people who want to shift even further to the right of our already far right-wing parties. I think the billboards that have gone up around the country saying 'end mass immigration' kind of sums up the position of a lot of the people part of this new right-wing movement."
Meanwhile, inside the Ciociaro, Bernier stressed the importance of balancing the budget within two years, saying it was a feat that has been accomplished before and can be done again.
"It's easy to balance the budget," he exclaimed. "I'm looking at Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin.... 1995, we in Canada had a deficit of $30 billion. Two years later we had a surplus of $3 billion. Jean Chrétien and Paul Martin, Liberals, were able to balance the budget in two years with a $30 billion deficit of that time."
Bernier also promised that, if elected, his party would ensure that Canadian dollars are spent domestically.
"Justin Trudeau will send $2.3 billion to African countries to fight climate change. In Canada, we don't have running water and clean water on reserves. We need to bring back that money to Canada to help Canadians first," said Bernier.
All three PPC Windsor-Essex candidates were in attendance for the rally- Bill Capes of Essex, Dan Burr of Windsor-Tecumseh and Darryl Burrell of Windsor West. By Monday's candidate filing deadline, Bernier confirmed the PPC had enough candidates running nationwide to cement his invitation to the national debates.
Bernier is scheduled to continue on the campaign trail Tuesday in Chatham-Kent, starting at the Chatham Wish Centre from 8 a.m. until 9:30 a.m., then heading to the Wallaceburg Legion from 10 a.m. to 11:30 p.m. before visiting Sarnia and Strathroy.
-With files from Mark Brown
