Westlock County cattle rancher John Schrader believes the Liberal-led federal government policies are hindering Canada’s ability to achieve real prosperity.
And he doesn’t see a lot of difference in the Liberals platform and the Conservative Party of Canada.
However, he feels Maxime Bernier and the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) have a platform that will help the nation turn the ship around and help it live up to its potential.
Most notably, he said as a PPC candidate he is pleased to have the opportunity to spread the party’s message for the need of smaller government, lower taxes and equality and liberty for all residents under the law.
“We have the potential to improve the general welfare of Canadians dramatically,” Schrader said. “Canada has far more natural resources than almost any country in the world. What is preventing Canada from becoming the most prosperous nation on earth is a litany of bad laws and government excess.
He added true economic prosperity is only achievable through genuinely open markets.
One of his and the PPC’s top concerns is the level of “corporate welfare that is being doled out by the Liberals”.
He is especially concerned about the government plan to help print media with a $598 million of tax credits and incentives over the next five years.
“I am concerned about how it is going to affect journalism and freedom of speech. That has a legitimate potential of making the media biased towards its customer [the government] because that is where the money is coming from,” Schrader said.
He then spoke about the need for governments to do everything they can to foster a true free market system, singling out the dairy, poultry and telecommunication industries as an example.
“The dairy, poultry and ag industries are set up like a cartel to overcharge customers,” Schrader said, adding the PPC would platform vows to phase out Canada’s supply management system — a system that allows specific commodity sectors, such as dairy, poultry and eggs, to limit the supply of their products to what Canadians are expected to consume to ensure predictable, stable prices.
Schrader also questioned the government’s foreign policy saying it is “making strangers out of Canada’s biggest ally, the United States.”
“That’s not acceptable,” he said.
Tax policy
Schrader said the PPC would slash taxes across the board, reducing the corporate and farm rate at 10 per cent.
They would also eliminate the tax on capital gains (profits realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was greater than the amount realized on the sale). Most capital gains are from the sale of stocks, bonds and property.
The PPC also proposes increasing the personal income tax exemption to $15,000, up from $12,069.
For those who have income over that threshold up to $100,000, the tax rate would be 15 per cent. For those who have an income higher than $100,000, the tax rate would increase to 25 per cent.
Compared to the other parties, Schrader said on an income of $75,000, it would mean they would be paying at a minimum, $3,400 less income tax.
“If people want more money in their pocket, electing a PPC government is the way to do it,” he said.
Biggest issues in the riding
As for what Schrader believes are the two most important issues or challenges to the constituency are, he said the health of the region’s oil and gas industry as well as agriculture.
On the oil and gas front, he said Maxime Bernier is the only leader of a major political party that has promised, if elected, to use the House of Commons to enact legislation that not only will ensure private pipelines of national importance are built but built quickly,” he said.
Schrader said the biggest obstacle in building pipelines is environmental legislation, noting he has seen this first hand, noting he has worked, in some capacity, in the oil and gas industry for more than 15 years.
“What I’ve seen is a huge amount of over-regulation, to the point where it can take years for a project to be approved, if at all,” he said, adding what the government needs to do is step back and ask themselves two fundamental questions. “Do we need to streamline the process and are the regulations meeting the objectives they were designed to do?”
In most cases, Schrader said the answer to these questions are yes and no respectively.
In agriculture, he said one of the biggest issues producers are having, is the Liberal government’s seeming inability to “get along with other governments.”
“China has banned Canadian canola, beef and pork exports and this is a terrible hardship for our farmers,” he said, noting as a cattle rancher he has felt the impact personally.
The bans were in retaliation of Canadian law enforcement officials arresting and detaining Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou on a US extradition warrant last December.
“We need a government that is willing to stand up for Canadian farmers and ranchers to get more trade deals with these nations. If they want to import thousands of cars into our country they should except our products on an equal playing field and if they are not, we need to put tariffs on their products.”
Climate change
Schrader noted the PPC doesn’t support putting a price on carbon and he doesn’t believe “the climate change emergency” is all that mainstream media is making it out to be.
“The scientific evidence clearly shows that climate change has been happening throughout the planet’s history. If you look back 10, 50, 100 years, they were much higher,” he said.
Immigration
If elected the PPC proposes capping immigration to 150,000, down from the current 300,000.
“We have pledged to cut back for now and let our economy catch up and to allow immigrants to better integrate,” he said.
Of those 150,000 immigrants allowed into Canada each year, the vast majority will be due to economic factors, ie to fill a need.
“Reunification will only apply to immediate family members, not extended family such as aunts, uncles and cousins as it does under the Liberal policy,” Schrader said.
But what is more important than setting immigration levels, he said, is ensuring they are treated fairly when they arrive in Canada.
“I can tell you that the current policies are very hurtful to the immigrants themselves,” Schrader said.
He added that workers that come to Canada under the Temporary Foreign Worker program don’t have the same rights as other workers.
“And they should,” Schrader said. “If a person with temporary residency decides to leave an employer, you either stay in the country illegally and don’t have access to health care. And if they are here illegally employers can take advantage of them. If they are forced to stay with the same employer the same is true. No person should be allowed to come to Canada, as long as they are good citizens, everyone should have a path to citizenship.”
In late June, the government in the Canadian Gazette announced a 30-day consultation for what it calls “occupation-specific work permits.”
For more information about Schrader’s candidacy go the PPC’s Peace River-Westlock Facebook Page or on the party’s website.
