Andrew Nelson - People's Party of Canada

By Charles Lefebvre

2019 election

Meet the Candidate – Andrew Nelson (People’s Party of Canada)

Sep 17, 2019 | 1:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Andrew Nelson says disillusionment with the Conservative Party of Canada led him to seek public office for the first time.

The Cardston resident is hoping to help the People’s Party of Canada earn seats in western Canada, running for the party in Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner.

“I’ve been a long-term Conservative supporter, but I just haven’t been happy with the way the party’s been going since the last election,” Nelson said during a recent interview. “I feel like they took a turn, and just left me out in the field without any representation.”

Nelson is a commercial pilot, and has worked as a journeyman carpenter and a gold seal superintendent. Originally from the United Kingdom, he has also served in the Canadian Forces.

Nelson says the election of Andrew Scheer as party lead motivated him to put his name out for the election.

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“He abandoned all of the things that Maxime Bernier was running during the leadership race, went his own way, and became a centrist, and in my views, a weak leader, and just wasn’t representing what I believed in anymore,” he said.

Bernier left the Conservatives in 2018, forming the People’s Party of Canada later that year.

Nelson says the biggest issues facing the riding are taxes, pipelines, firearm laws and freedom of expression, the latter of which he says is being “shut down nationally.”

“That’s just a fundamental precept of being a Canadian, is being able to speak your mind,” he said.

Nelson says the focus on the campaign trail has been getting the party’s message out, and says so far, it’s been well received.

“I’ve got people calling me to get literature and to get lawn signs, and that’s just something that’s unusual, but is happening in a big way,” he said.

And he says the recent decision to allow Bernier to participate in October will also help spread the message of the party.

“I’ve gotten to know (Maxime) pretty well, I’ve spent a lot of time with him,” he said. “I just think, as Canadians get to listen to him, and see what a common sense type fellow he is, that he does very well in public speaking and debates. I think some of the other leaders maybe aren’t quite so thrilled that he’s going to get to participate as we are.”

More information about the party can be found here.