MICHELLE SMITH BERNIER’S PEOPLE’S PARTY CANDIDATE IN P.S-M

Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com

PARRY SOUND-MUSKOKA — The race to replace Independent MP Tony Clement is getting crowded and more interesting.

Michelle Smith, year-round Muskoka resident and business owner, has been named the People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate for Parry Sound-Muskoka in the upcoming federal election.

The PPC are the party of disgruntled former Conservative Maxime Bernier, who started his own party last September 2018.

One of the party’s high-profile candidates is, Renata Ford, the widow of the former Toronto mayor Rob Ford who is running in the Etobicoke riding where her brother-in-law Doug Ford is the MPP and premier.

Smith says she is excited to join Bernie and the PPC, which she claims is making history as the fastest growing political party ever in Canada.

She says they have more people running in the election than the Green Party, the NDP and the Liberals.

Smith, who runs a local cleaning business, has also worked in manufacturing, supporting operations, marketing and sales.

People’s Party of Canada Leader Maxime Bernier welcomes Michelle Smith as the Parry Sound-Muskoka candidate in the fall general Canadian election.

Her background includes working in social services as a job-developer in Parry Sound and Muskoka, assisting Ontario Works and Ontario Disability Support Program clients, along with being tops in her program, Get Trained Workers.

“I am excited to share our Canada-first platform with residents of Parry Sound-Muskoka.

“We want to do politics differently!” Smith said. “We support a smaller, more centralized government with less regulation.”

She says the PPC plan to review the billions of dollars spent on foreign aid, keeping more money in Canada to benefit Canadians.

And the party would scrap the federal carbon tax, end corporate welfare and abolish supply management.

Smith says she looks forward to getting out into the community and talking to residents about the issues that matter most to them, so she says she can “understand the best way to support the Parry Sound-Muskoka districts in Ottawa.”

Smith becomes the fifth established party candidate in the race, along with the Liberals’ Trisha Cowie, the NDP’s Tom Young and newly named Conservative candidate Scott Aichison and the Green Party’s Gord Miller.

The federal election is slated for Oct. 21; however there are rumblings that that could change as it is a major Jewish holiday.