A Nanaimo woman is one of the first-ever candidates for the Peoplesa国际传媒檚 Party of Canada.

PPC members in Nanaimo-Ladysmith chose Jennifer Clarke as the partysa国际传媒檚 potential byelection candidate at a meeting Saturday in the north end.

Laura-Lynn Tyler Thompson was chosen to represent the PPC in Burnaby South as the party seeks to be prepared for sa国际传媒渢he two upcoming B.C. byelections,sa国际传媒� according to its Facebook page.

Clarke said she thinks a byelection in Nanaimo-Ladysmith will happen sa国际传媒渇airly shortlysa国际传媒� and said the Peoplesa国际传媒檚 Party of Canada will have a strong presence in the campaign. She said PPC leader Maxime Bernier sa国际传媒� who is expected to visit the riding as soon as this week sa国际传媒� is an sa国际传媒渁mazingsa国际传媒� speaker and person with a strong message and a lot of good leadership qualities.

sa国际传媒淲esa国际传媒檝e got people from all the parties realizing that theysa国际传媒檙e wanting something fresh and new, that has integrity, that is honest, thatsa国际传媒檚 doing politics differently, that is listening to the people,sa国际传媒� she said.

Clarke ran for school trustee in the October local government election, falling about 2,300 votes short, and then tried in November for the .

sa国际传媒淔or the sake of getting [Prime Minister Justin Trudeau] out, I wanted to stay united as much as possible,sa国际传媒� Clarke said. sa国际传媒淏ut I realized that this is a much more positive platform, where [Bernier] is here for all Canadians.sa国际传媒�

Clarke suggested she has a lot of freedom of speech to speak about the issues important to her built right into the party platform.

sa国际传媒淚 think thatsa国际传媒檚 part of what Canada needs, is to have those freedoms back implemented with the Charter of Rights and Freedoms sa国际传媒� the freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of conscience, freedom of assembly, all the different freedoms sa国际传媒� to be really promoted because I think at this point wesa国际传媒檝e been losing ground in those areas,sa国际传媒� she said.

Shannon Kewley, PPC provincial organizer who will manage the campaigns in both Burnaby South and Nanaimo-Ladysmith, said Clarke is a bright, knowledgeable candidate who already has community support.

Kewley said the Peoplesa国际传媒檚 Party of Canada was able to set up 42 electoral district associations in nine weeks and said there are strong boards in place that are ready to go and are raising money.

sa国际传媒淚t is amazing. Wesa国际传媒檝e got so many people coming to us from all parties sa国际传媒� from the NDP, from the Liberals, from the Conservatives sa国际传媒� because their leaders and their platforms, they have nothing to offer, and especially in British Columbia,sa国际传媒� Kewley said. sa国际传媒淢axime is just resonating with British Columbians with his common-sense approach.sa国际传媒�

Clarke is holding a meet and greet today, Jan. 8, from 1:30-8 p.m. at Kiwanis Manor at 1201 Kiwanis Cres.

editor@nanaimobulletin.com
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