Canada’s Newest Political Party Rejects Politics of Division
OTTAWA, Aug. 14 – The Canadian Future Party (CFP), Canada’s newest federal political party, officially launched in Ottawa today.
Interim leader Dominic Cardy was joined by Interim Party President Tara McPhail to announce the new party.
Canadians are seeing an increasing polarization of the country’s politics, a landscape where manipulating algorithms to get more social media clicks is more important than good policy to address serious issues. If you can slice and dice the country’s electorate for a slight advantage, why bother with difficult conversations on dramatic changes to improve the way our country works.
The Canadian Future Party rejects that politics. Canadians surveyed say they want good government. They want pragmatic policy developed on evidence-based information that reflects Canada’s values. They want a party that does what’s best for Canada, not that does what’s best for the party or the special interests that support it.
“Politics in Canada has become a zero-sum game,” said Cardy. “The goal is not public service and good policy to improve the lives of Canadians. Rather it is to destroy and vanquish your opponents. Political opponents are no longer people who want what’s best for Canada but have a different take on how to get there. They are enemies.
“This is not the tradition of Sir John A. MacDonald or Sir Wilfred Laurier. It is not the tradition of Lester Pearson or Pierre Trudeau. It is not the tradition of Joe Clark or Brian Mulroney.”
Canada faces multiple crises: a housing shortage, aggressive dictatorships, climate change, predatory social media algorithms shredding our social fabric, and institutions like our healthcare system that aren’t able to deliver in the way they used to or are supposed to. Existing parties will default to tinkering. Existing parties will say healthcare is too big and complicated to be fixed. That we can’t decouple from China because we depend on them for cheap products. That we can’t rationalize the tax code because it will alienate wedges of our base. The Canadian Future Party thinks differently. This is a moment that requires bravery and vision. A moment to unleash human ingenuity to fix our problems. A moment to implement policy that works for Canada and Canadians and to do it without fear or favour.
The CFP believes people from every corner of the country want to be united behind a common set of ideals: democracy, the rule of law, collective action, and individual rights. A country where you can live as you like, love who you want, and in exchange, you work hard, and we collectively agree on a common set of rules to let us live our different lives, together. Where decisions are based on evidence.
McPhail, a former activist with the Conservative Party, said in the face of the steep challenges Canada is facing, she didn’t see herself reflected in any of the current political parties.
“I don’t want and I am not interested in addressing these existential issues with measures that are driven by ideological puritanism on either the left or the right,” said McPhail. “I want a political party that will address them with solutions based on evidence, common sense and sound judgement. I want a political party that will implement policies because they are effective, not because they will slice and dice the population into tiny wedges to gain some kind of electoral advantage.”
Media inquiries:
Chisholm Pothier
media@ourcanadianfuture.com
613-325-2555