The People’s Party of Canada candidate for Sault Ste. Marie-Algoma says his party will be the only one to address mass immigration, tighten border security and eradicate woke culture — all while erasing the deficit in one year — if it were to gain power in the upcoming election.
Echo Bay resident Harry Jaaskelainen was the PPC candidate in the now-defunct riding of Algoma-Manitoulin-Kapuskasing during the 2021 federal election. The 2,840 ballots cast for the former federal forest officer during that election captured 7.2 per cent of the vote.
Jaaskelainen was named the PPC local candidate in this year’s federal election after Arnold Heino recently dropped out for ‘unforeseen personal reasons.’
“I was rooting for him,” Jaaskelainen said. “It was unfortunate that he had to drop out.
“I was waiting in the wings in case something did happen.”
The PPC was formed in 2018 by Maxime Bernier, who left the Conservative Party of Canada in order to found a political party deeply rooted in populism.
Jaaskelainen believes the Conservatives are "no longer conservative," as they’ve “drifted far to the left” and are now more in line with the Liberals and New Democrats.
That’s especially true with mass immigration, according to Jaaskelainen, which he claims went unopposed by the Conservatives.
“We’re suggesting a moratorium on immigration until the whole housing situation and the crisis from mass immigration is resolved,” he said.
"A moratorium is what we’re calling for — that’s a major difference.”
He says the parties also differ when it comes to the sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) agenda, which he calls “crap.”
“It’s nonsense,” said Jaaskelainen. “This is not traditional Canadian values — this is butchering children without parental consent.
“We need to give our heads a shake about that whole issue.”
Jaaskelainen says Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre effectively “signed on” to SOGI by supporting Bill C-4, which would prohibit removing a child under the age of 18 from Canada with the intention that they undergo conversion therapy outside Canada.
“You can’t talk to your minor child about the counselling they’ve been getting from their teachers, usually in the school system, to do a gender transition,” he said.
“You’ll be jailed. As a parent, you’ll be jailed if you try to talk to your child or get some counselling for your child against their wishes.
“This is draconian, this is cultural marxism that we’re battling — and this is in the Conservative Party camp.”
Jaaskelainen is also taking aim at the Liberal Party of Canada, which he said increased the number of civil servants by 100,000 and doubled the federal debt to $1.2 trillion since assuming power in 2015.
The local PPC candidate also accused the Liberals of trying to shut down producers of natural remedies because of collusion with “big pharma.”
Jaaskelainen claims there have been 20 million deaths due to the COVID-19 vaccine worldwide, and that both his ex-wife and older brother “died right after the jab.”
PPC leader Maxime Bernier is the only political leader talking about sealing off the border, Jaaskelainen said, “because everybody else wants a tariff war.”
He also said all U.S. President Donald Trump wanted was a “secure border from our narco-state drugs,” and Canada launched a tariff war in return.
“Does that make any political sense? Not to me. Not to me or to Max. That's insanity,” said Jaaskelainen.
“That's political suicide, because we will never win a tariff war with the U.S.”
The PPC would also cancel diversity, equity and inclusion, according to Jaaskelainen, who says “multiculturalism has failed,” by creating “ethnic ghettos” and doubling of crime rates in Canada.
That’s why the party has pledged to put an end to the “two-tier justice system” in Canada — one for “old stock Canadians” and the other for Indigenous people and people of colour.
“It’s horrific, and makes no sense for the common Canadian,” he said.
The federal election will be held April 28.
Other candidates running in the Sault Ste. Marie-Algoma riding include Hugh Stevenson for the Conservatives, Laura Mayer for the NDP and incumbent Terry Sheehan for the Liberals.