OTTAWA — A new political party will appear on the ballot in two upcoming by-elections as the Canadian Future Party seeks to introduce itself officially as a centrist option for voters it argues are growing weary of an increasingly polarized environment.
The party, approved by Elections Canada last month, will field candidates in the LaSalle—Émard—Verdun and Elmwood-Transcona races in September, which are being watched closely for what they might herald for the governing Liberals, Official Opposition Conservatives, and New Democrats.Â
Dominic Cardy, the interim leader of the party, told the Star in an exclusive interview Tuesday that he’s under no illusions his rookie venture will be easy to get off the ground.
But Cardy — a former cabinet minister in New Brunswick’s Progressive Conservative government — says he sees room for his party’s message as he surveys the current political landscape.
“We’re the no-nonsense party. We’re going to be here to talk about things that are real, not try and spin them, not have lots of hyperbole on either side, and actually offer concrete solutions around the problems that I think have been totally ignored by the Liberals and Conservatives particularly,” he said ahead of an event in Ottawa on Wednesday to officially launch the party.Â
“Our tag line is saying we’re not left, not right, (we’re) going forward.”Â
Future Canada started two years ago as a movement known as Centre Ice Conservatives, a coalition of small-c conservatives frustrated by their party’s inability to gain traction with centrist voters.
At the time, the federal Tories were running their third leadership race in five years. Centre Ice was set up as a forum to discuss how the party could appeal to a block of voters who had eluded the party in previous general elections and kept them out of power.Â
The ultimate winner of that leadership race was Pierre Poilievre, whose campaign hit a nerve among those growing increasingly skeptical of the Liberal government, and his party has since secured a dominating lead in the national polls over the Trudeau Liberals.Â
The races in the upcoming by-elections aren’t clean fights between the Liberals and Tories.
In the Quebec riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, the Liberals will try to hold onto a seat with the NDP and Bloc Québécois chomping for a win. Meanwhile, in Manitoba’s Elmwood-Transcona, a NDP-held riding, it is the Conservatives who are expected to put up the toughest fight.
Cardy said he’s under no illusions that his rookie party will be easy to get off the ground, recalling how another member of the movement once said starting a new political party would be like having 338 root canals — a reference to the 338 federal seats in Parliament at the time.Â
“It turns out that in the last couple of years there are things worse than having 338 root canals, which is watching as our current political system continues to fight about things that don’t matter and ignore existential threats against Canada,” Cardy said, citing defence, trade and foreign policy as examples.Â
Cardy also accused those on the left and right of twisting facts and evidence to suit their political narratives, arguing they are taking Canada to a place where the country can’t even agree on its basic challenges.
And politicians like Poilievre who challenge evidence and experts are “terrifying,” Cardy said, citing in particular the Conservative leader’s calls to fire so-called “gatekeepers.”
“This is a very new and more complicated world,” Cardy said. “We need trust in our experts, and that does not come from politicians playing games with expertise.”
Meanwhile, the Liberals are no better, he said, citing the current “disaster” in the immigration system.
“All they do is undermine faith in the things that Mr. Trudeau says are important, which is Canadians working together and the power of government to do good,” he said.
“Unless you can make democracy deliver, all you’re doing is giving power to the populists by showing that it can’t.”
While the genesis of the new party dates back to Centre Ice Conservatives, it rebranded after Poilievre won the Tory leadership to broaden its appeal to frustrated Liberals, before moving on to actually set up a new party last year.
It counts among its current leadership team a former Quebec NDP MP, a former Liberal party candidate, and grassroots organizers from the federal Conservative party.
Cardy is currently sitting as an Independent MLA in New Brunswick after breaking with that province’s PC government over Premier Blaine Higgs’s leadership.
He said he’s not pursuing re-election provincially, and will eventually seek a seat for Future Canada.Â
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