Ambrose Ralph is running as Maverick Party candidate for Grande Prairie-Mackenzie

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Maverick Party candidate and energy industry advocate Ambrose Ralph is running in this election because he believes the West is not getting a fair deal in Canada.

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Previously, Ralph served nine years in the military, was president of the North West Junior Hockey League (NWJHL), and served as a senior manager at an oil and gas services company in Grande Prairie.

“Like many people who seem to end up in Grand Prairie, I came here for a couple of months and have been here almost 22 years,” Ralph said.

Ralph became immersed in political activism in 2008 after he wrote an essay on LinkedIn that went viral. Since then, he has become a regular advocate for the energy industry through his social media platforms and talks.

According to Ralph, he was approached by the Maverick Party to run as a candidate, and he agreed to run because he and the party believe the West is receiving “unfair treatment.”

“The Maverick party really stands up for the values ​​that I believe in and the things that I have been saying on my political activist platform for the past two years,” Ralph said.

The Maverick Party, according to Ralph, is a “first Western party, no exceptions.”

The Maverick Party has grown out of the WEXIT movement that began in 2019 and, according to Ralph, has been transformed into a political party with the help of former Reform Party MPs such as current party leader Jay Hill.

Ralph believes that people from the West do not want to leave Canada unless they are strongly rejected by the East. Instead, the Maverick party aspires to have the same influence over federal politics that the Reform Party had in the 1990s before the party merged into what eventually became the Conservative Party of Canada (CCP). .

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“We had it and we gave it away. I think Mr. Preston Manning regrets it to this day, ”Ralph said.

In addition to fighting for the West, the Maverick Party also has a series of proposals focused on choosing parents for childcare, advocating for Canada’s energy industry, ditching the carbon tax, and ending equalization.

According to Ralph, the Maverick Party will also keep up the pressure on the CCP, which he says has moved politically to the left to appease voters in Quebec and Toronto.

“The Maverick Party will hold Mr. O’Toole accountable in Parliament to his conservative base and conservative values. If it doesn’t move to the right, the Maverick Party will fill that void, ”Ralph said.

He points to the CPC’s climate plan that includes a climate tax after a previous campaign in 2019 to eliminate the carbon tax, as another reason the CPC is turning its back on the West to appeal to the East.

“It is an absolute hypocrisy. That’s Mr. O’Toole turning his back on his base in the West, “Ralph said, adding that” we don’t support the carbon tax. “

When asked about how the party will differ from the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) by a share of the disillusioned Conservative vote, Ralph points to what he believes to be the lack of support for the Energy East pipeline from PPC leader Maxime Bernier. .

“He is in this himself, he is motivated by revenge and he has no intention of helping the West. If he did, he would publicly support Energy East, but he knows he can’t, because he won’t get votes in Quebec. “

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Ralph says he still talks to many of the young men and women he saw playing hockey over the years when he was president of the NWJHL, who he says are hopeless and have lost their entrepreneurial spirit.

“Albertans are happiest when they are working, when they are unemployed and Alberta, two words that should never be said in the same sentence.” Ralph said.

Federal Election Day is Monday, September 20. Candidates for Grande Prairie-Mackenzie are Chris Warkentin (CPC), Dan Campbell (Liberal), Ambrose Ralph (Maverick Party), Jennifer Villebrun (NDP), Shawn McLean (PPC) and Donovan Eckstrom (Rhino Party).