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Local oil and gas worker Shawn McLean is running as the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate for Grande Prairie-Mackenzie.
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McLean has worked in the oil and gas industry for 15 years and currently works as a pipeline technician for a local company serving BC and Alberta.
“I raised my family in the Peace River area and moved to Sexsmith about seven years ago,” McLean said, adding, “I enjoy the work I’m doing now and I have a great company that I’m working for.”
“Historically, I have been a conservative supporter, but what I have discovered in the last election is that the conservatives are not doing their job when it comes to being the official opposition.
For McLean, under the leadership of Andrew Scheer and Erin O’Toole, the Conservative Party has become what he describes as “Liberal-Lite” due to what he believes is the party’s effort to attract voters. in eastern Canada.
As McLean’s disillusionment with the Conservative Party grew, McLean began looking at other parties and connected with the PPC platform, which he calls a “logical approach.”
“It’s about equality, justice and freedom, all the things that I loved about Canada and that made me proud of Canada,” McLean said.
McLean believes that now is the time for people to come out and make their voices heard in the community, and so he decided to run as a candidate for the PPC.
“I’m not a politician, I’m an instrument technician to yell out loud, but you know, people need to jump in and start doing things,” McLean said.
McLean is frustrated with what he perceives as routine unfair treatment of the West by successive liberal governments.
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He believes that equalization and increased support for the energy industry are two important issues that recent conservative and liberal governments have not adequately addressed.
“We should have a pipeline, and this equalization thing should have been fixed a long time ago,” Mclean said.
Another big theme of this election, according to McLean, is that people are fed up with government-mandated COVID protocols, which he says are taking away people’s freedoms. He says the government is there to identify problems and help people solve those problems, not to order solutions.
“Mandatory vaccinations and vaccination passports are a stupid idea,” McLean said.
When asked about how the PPC plans to stand out in this election among a crowded field of right-wing parties, McLean believes it is the PPC platform that will set them apart.
It points to the PPC’s plan to cut taxes, build pipelines, improve the economy, cut spending, and provide greater support for veterans.
“Our veterans have died and lost limbs for our people, our country and our freedoms,” McLean said, “and now they don’t respect them.”
McLean had also been a vocal critic of CBC’s Poll Tracker website that had previously not featured the PPC, even though they were voting higher nationally than the Green Party of Canada.
Since then, CBC has arranged Poll Tracker to include PPC polling support.
“We have to spend more money as candidates to buy time on the radio, buy signs, buy all the things that need to happen, just so we can get the same level of justice in this election and give Canadians the option to vote for the freedom, ”McLean 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).
Reference-www.dailyheraldtribune.com