A retired agronomist instructor from Lakeland College in Vermilion is taking another stab at running for the Libertarian Party of Canada.
Robert George McFadzean has let his name stand once again for the Oct. 21 Federal election in the Lakeland constituency after running for the same seat during the 2015 vote.
According to the party's website, the Libertarians' mission is "to reduce the responsibilities and expense of government." McFadzean, for his part, said he does not like the "tax and regulation mentality" of the other mainstream parties.
"I think that the private sector can do things a lot better than the government," McFadzean said. "I'm okay with laws against assault, theft and (other criminal offences). But I do not think that all the other stuff that the government gets involved in is at all useful. Bureaucracy is not the way to go."
McFadzean continues to live in Vermilion with his wife Marit, and enjoys spending time with his seven adult children and his more than 30 grandchildren. He taught at Lakeland College for 23 years before his retirement.
McFadzean also ran in the April 16 provincial election for the Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright constituency as an Independent.
"We do not have a provincial Libertarian Party to run for in Alberta, so I had to run as an Independent candidate," McFadzean said. "I was pretty much running as a Libertarian candidate in everything but name."
He said if he is elected as Lakeland's Member of Parliament, he would "support any move to decrease taxes."
"I would not support any increase in taxes at all," he continued. "I would also support any decrease in regulations, as well as any decrease in the bureaucracy. I also do not feel that MLAs or MPs should be a career. I can see paying expenses for them to be involved, but paying all those huge salaries does not make much sense. The idea that a guy can go in, serve six years as an MP and get a lucrative pension for life is not a good way to go."
McFadzean said he would also look at term-limits as a possibility to bring more accountability among the politicians.
"I'm old enough to remember back in the old days where MLAs in Alberta would meet just one six-week session and then return to their day jobs," he said. "That was enough. You give these guys big salaries, give them full-time work and they've got to find something to do. What they normally find to do is to just make life miserable for people."
He said he is mainly putting his name in so the voters within the constituency have somebody else to vote for on election day.
"The first time I ran, I had a few dollars to spend. So I tried attending all these forums across the constituency and holding town hall meetings," McFadzean said. "I found that it was pretty useless. Nobody at the time was interested in finding out what Libertarians were all about, and at the forums it seemed to me that the vast majority of the people in attendance were there to support their candidate (rather than learn what each one was about), so I was basically talking to the wall."
McFadzean said that this time around, he doesn't have the money to do the forums, town halls or go door-knocking.
"Pretty much, I'm just going to be a paper candidate," he said. "I'm going to get my name out there, put up a few signs if I don't have to travel too far. But I will still have my blog and my Facebook page, so people can find out what I'm all about."
He added that anyone interested in learning more can check out his website at http://robert.mcfadzean.ca/, or can also find him on Facebook.
Other candidates include Tory incumbent Shannon Stubbs, Alain Houle from the People's Party of Canada, as well as Green Party hopeful Elke Crosson. As of Sept. 6, the Liberals and the New Democrats still in the market for a candidate.
