Sturgeon River-Parkland People’s Party of Canada candidate Tyler Beauchamp

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: Morinville News has extended an interview invitation to all six candidates in the 2019 federal election. We will be releasing one article each day in the order candidates replied to us. Visit our election page for all the profiles we have published to date.

by Stephen Dafoe

Tyler Beauchamp, a married father of one and grandfather of one, is the People’s Party of Canada candidate for Sturgeon River-Parkland.

Originally from the East Coast and educated in project management and human resources, Beauchamp moved to Alberta in the 1990s looking for the Alberta advantage. He worked in the oil patch for more than a decade and currently works as a corporate safety manager for a large commercial and industrial HVAC company. He is midway through an MBA in finance.

This election is Beauchamp’s first move into politics. He was moved to enter politics through personal adversity and dissatisfaction with government as it is today.

“I used to be an entrepreneur. I had an Occupational Health and Safety consulting firm in the oil sands. Back in 2015, I lost my shirt and had to close my company, sell my house, move my family into a rental property, and kind of restart,” Beauchamp said. “I got fed up. I’m just tired of our corrupt system that we have today. You can only tolerate it for so long.”

That system sees Canada governed by only one of two parties. “The Liberal Party messes up for four years, so then the Conservatives get in. Then the Conservatives mess up for four to eight years. Then the Liberals get in. It’s just a vicious cycle.”

A DIFFERENT KIND OF PARTY

Beauchamp said he’d followed PPC Leader Maxime Bernier during the Conservative Party of Canada’s leader’s race. He was drawn to Bernier’s approach.

“I see him more like a French Ralph Klein,” the candidate said. “I’ve met him personally on numerous occasions now, and he just tells it like it is. He doesn’t sugar coat it. He doesn’t try to do the horse and pony show or fluff anything. He’s very honest and willing to listen.”

When Bernier launched the People’s Party of Canada a year later, Beauchamp signed up as a founding member.

“I see him as a very authentic leader,” Beauchamp said. “When I look at [Conservative Leader Andrew] Scheer and [Liberal Leader Justin] Trudeau, I see the same person. I see Bernier as what a true conservative actually is.”

For Beauchamp, a true conservative is someone who’s looking out for the best interests of the country, someone willing to balance the budget and make hard decisions, including reducing immigration.

MIGRATION

The PPC accuses Trudeau of creating a “cult of diversity.” If elected, the PPC would repeal the Multiculturalism Act, and eliminate all funding to promote multiculturalism.

Instead, the PPC would emphasize integrating immigrants into Canadian society.

They would also lower the immigrant and refugee numbers from 350,000 per year to between 100,000 and 150,000.

Beauchamp points out that the party is not anti-immigration or anti-multiculturalism.

“I have no issue with multiculturalism, but I believe you have to share some Canadian values,” he said. “We’re bringing over a lot of different cultures, which is fine. We need the people. We’re not producing enough new children every year. We absolutely need immigration. This country won’t sustain without immigration. But at the same time, we need to make sure the people that are coming in share our same values.

“If you are from the Philipines, you are going to stay Filipino. I understand that. But at the same time, you should be able to speak English or French. Adopt some of our stuff. That’s the difference.”

Beauchamp said he finds it troubling to see immigrants express hatred and contempt for Canada.

“I’ve seen that in lots of places, especially with me working coast to coast,” he said, adding he has witnessed anti-Canadian sentiments in his travels. “Why are these people in our country if they hate our country or our way of life?”

LOCAL AND NATIONAL ISSUES

The People’s Party of Canada is pro-pipeline, and blame the current government for a decline in capital investments in the oil and gas industry.

“Our party position, first and foremost, is let’s build some pipelines,” Beauchamp said. “Let’s use the Constitution, make our pipelines to the general benefit of the country under 92(10) of our Constitution and force the building of these pipelines. We absolutely need them.”

Beauchamp cited his own experience in 2015 when he lost his business. In an active market, he had a decade of contracts. A decline in oil, saw that vanish overnight.

“We saw the price of oil drop, and we saw $2 billion from one of my projects was shifted to a different project, and they laid off everybody. In that three-day period, I lost ten years worth of work. It is impossible for a company to recover from that.”

Beauchamp said with the recent bombing of Saudi oilfields, Canada is without a pipeline to get oil to the British Columbia Coast or refineries in the East Coast.

“Why are we bringing in foreign oil? That just doesn’t make any sense to me. Ther ‘es no logic behind it.”

THE ENVIRONMENT

The People’s Party of Canada would abolish the Liberal’s carbon tax and would withdraw from the Paris Accord, abandoning what it calls unrealistic greenhouse gas emission reduction targets.

They would also end subsidies for green technology, leaving private interests to develop any profitable and efficient alternatives.

“We’re focused on carbon because we can tax it,” Beauchamp said of current government policies and approach. “I see it that we should be focused on personal responsibility. Let’s not tax our society to death, and make the cost of living absurd. It’s already absurd. We can focus on watering our lawn less, driving the car less. Use public transportation. In Alberta, for example, let’s fix some of our LRT systems in Edmonton or put in a rail between Edmonton and Calgary to get less vehicles on the road. There are so many things we can do.”

SUPPORTING VETERANS

Beauchamp comes from a military family, mostly Gagetown outside of Fredericton, New Brunswick. Military concerns are important to both him and the PPC.

The PPC policy on veterans would enshrine in legislation the country’s obligations to Canadian veterans in a Military Covenant between the government and those who serve in the Armed Forces. They would also reinstate the fair disability pension as previously provided for by the Pension Act. If elected, that pension would be retroactive to 2006.

“The PPC policy for Veterans is very important to me,” Beauchamp said. “Trudeau saying that Veterans are asking too much was disturbing as these men and women are asked to give their lives for our freedom, and they do so without a second thought. Veterans should want for nothing. They are the reason we enjoy our freedom.”

For more information on Beauchamp, visit https://ppcsturgeonriverparkland.nationbuilder.com.

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