Geoff Shoesmith to run as Maverick Party candidate

By Brian Konrad

36 party candidates in Western Canada

Geoff Shoesmith to run for Maverick Party in Medicine Hat riding

Aug 10, 2021 | 11:42 AM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — The newest federal political party in Canada plans to run candidates in about 36 ridings in Western Canada, including Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner.

Geoff Shoesmith, the owner and operator of a gas station in Walsh, has stepped forward as the local candidate for the Maverick Party.

Shoesmith says it was the frustration of realizing the west can’t thrive or flourish in the current political situation that led him to enter the political ring.

He was drawn to the Maverick Party’s goals of getting a better deal for the west, and acknowledges the similarities when the Reform Party was born in Western Canada in the late 1980s.

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But he says there are also differences between then and now.

“The Reform Party was looking to govern the country, while we’re not looking to do that,” says Shoesmith.

He adds that as a constituent and a voter he was happy with the Reform Party that led to the current Conservative Party of Canada.

“I feel our nation was a pretty good place at that time,” says Shoesmith.

Even if all 36 candidates in the west were to be elected, Shoesmith says it’s obvious the Maverick Party will never form government.

But he says they would give Western Canada a voice and a starting place moving forward.

He says the massive support he received following his assault at the hands of a rival gas station owner a year ago made him realize he could survive in the fishbowl of public life and led to his decision to enter the political arena.

Medicine Hat-Cardston-Warner was selected by the Maverick Party because it doesn’t see vote-splitting here as an issue that could lead to the election of other parties with no interest in the west.

Former Reform MPs Jay Hill and Allan Kerpan are serving as interim leader and deputy leader of the Maverick Party.

They’re expected to attend a meet and greet event this evening at the bandshell in Kin Coulee Park.

Shoesmith and other members of the local Maverick Party constituency will also be on hand for the event beginning at 6 p.m.