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Thursday, August 15, 2024

Ex-NB-NDP leader launches 'centrist' federal party

Dominic Cardy, former NDP leader in New Brunswick, then PC Education Minister (before being expelled from caucus), and founder of Centre Ice Conservatives (now Centre Ice Canadians), unveils his new "centrist" Canadian federal political party. 

Canadian Future Party launches, will field candidates in upcoming byelections | CBC News | Nick Murray:

August 14, 2024 - "Canada's newest federal political party officially launched in Ottawa on Wednesday. The Canadian Future Party is billing itself as a centrist option for voters unhappy with both the Liberals and Conservatives.... 'Canadians have been asked to play a political shell game," interim leader Dominic Cardy told a press conference in Ottawa. 'Under the shell on the left, the social programs you need. But along with it, too often you have to buy bloated government, ever-increasing spending, divorced from delivering results. Under the shell on the right, we're supposed to find fiscal discipline. But along with it, too often there's a mean-spirited approach that blames the most vulnerable for their plight, selfishness masquerading as liberty'.... 

"Interim party president Tara McPhail, a former activist with the Conservative Party, joined Cardy at Wednesday's launch. She said the new party is a place for Canadians like her who are 'politically homeless'.... '[Canadians] don't like the options on the left or the right," McPhail said. 'And we've moved away from ... policy and a tone of moderation and civility. And when I speak with Canadians, they say they'd like to see more of that'.... 

"The Canadian Future Party will put itself to the test right out of the gate by fielding candidates in byelections in LaSalle—Émard—Verdun and Elmwood—Transcona next month. Mark Khoury is on the ballot in the Quebec race, while the party's candidate for the Manitoba race will be announced in the coming days....

"Cardy laid out five policy planks on which he says the new party will be campaigning: reforming government programs, increasing Canada's defence spending to two per cent of its gross domestic product, reforming immigration through 'better gatekeepers,' making life more affordable by 'dismantling protectionism' and increasing competition in the airline, telecommunications and agricultural sectors."
Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-future-party-launches-1.7294230

Newest party wants Canada to go ‘not left, not right but forward’: interim leader | Power & Politics | CBC News | August 14, 2024:

New federal party aims to find centrist approach to federal politics | National Post | Adam Huras:

September 20, 2023 - "A new political party aiming to offer a centrist approach to federal politics has officially been launched, with former Higgs government cabinet minister and still-sitting MLA Dominic Cardy as interim leader.... The party will be exclusively federal and headed by a national council with a representative from each province and territory.... What was originally the Centre Ice Conservatives, and then the Centre Ice Canadians, emerged mid-pandemic believing the federal Conservatives had drifted too far right, as Poilievre steamrolled over a more centrist-positioned Jean Charest to grab party leadership....  

"Cardy was acclaimed party leader of the New Brunswick New Democrats in 2011 and led the party to a best-ever showing with 12.98 per cent of the popular vote in the 2014 provincial election. But the party didn’t win a single seat. He resigned on election night, later reconsidered, though eventually resigned again in 2017.... 

"Just weeks later, then opposition Progressive Conservative Leader Blaine Higgs turned heads by appointing Cardy as strategic issues director. Cardy was soon promoted to chief of staff and then eventually ran and won under the Progressive Conservative banner in Fredericton West-Hanwell in the 2018 provincial election. He was then named Education minister, keeping that job for nearly four years, before resigning with an epic public letter that held no punches in slamming Higgs’s leadership style. He was then expelled from caucus and remains a sitting independent MLA.

"Cardy said he will remain as a New Brunswick MLA until the next provincial election, working on the federal party as an unpaid volunteer part time. He said he won’t be seeking reelection.... Cardy said he will run for a federal seat under the new party banner, and suggested he may seek to be the Canadian Future Party’s permanent leader."
Read more: https://nationalpost.com/news/new-federal-party-will-have-new-brunswick-politician-as-interim-leader

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