Canada needs a “burn the ships” mentality, says the People’s Party of Canada candidate for Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies.
David Watson, the postmaster for Bear Lake, told The Citizen in a Thursday, March 27 phone interview that he’s held his party’s nomination since October 2023 in the race against Conservative incumbent Bob Zimmer.
He described himself as a small-c conservative who grew up in the Lower Mainland before living and working in Prince George, Saskatchewan and Alberta. He settled in Bear Lake about eight years ago.
As part of his preparation for the recently called federal election, Watson has a website set up outlining his own views, the party’s policies and details about himself.
On that website is a link to a video titled Burn The Ships, which references the actions of Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes. After arriving in the New World, Cortes had the ships that transported his expedition destroyed.
“It’s a metaphor for our systems,” Watson said. “There (are) so many things in this country that is broken and they need to be fixed. By fixing them, in many cases, it just makes them worse quite often so sometimes the best way to fix something is to tear it down and start from scratch.”
He said judges should be elected and not appointed because they are servants of the people and should be held directly accountable by the people. He said he feels similarly about the Senate.
Other things Watson said the government has handled poorly are freedom of expression, firearms, finances, military policy, financial policy and climate change policy.
On freedom of expression, Watson said the current definition of hate speech is too broad and should be restricted only to people committing acts of violence or threatening acts of violence. He also called for the elimination of government funding to media outlets, saying that funding has led to outlets becoming government mouthpieces.
When it comes to financial policy, he criticized equalization, saying that some provinces like Alberta never get any payments under the program.
“One province — and I’m sure you can guess who it is, that’s why I don’t even need to bring it up — but one province has received more than 50 per cent of it,” he said.
Asked about his stance on what he refers to as “radical gender ideology,” he said he doesn’t have a problem with people identifying as a certain gender, referring to a frequently distributed online claim that there are some people who identify as cats.
“If they’re an adult, they can go ahead with all the gender surgeries, everything like that,” Watson said. “I don’t have a problem with that either, but this isn’t something that the general public should be paying for … and women are having paying the price having men go into their changing rooms. I don’t care if they identify as men or as women, they’re not women. There are only two sexes.”
Also linked on Watson’s website is another video titled IF YOU WERE…
This video features what seems to be a computer-generated voice speaking over a combination of AI-generated imagery and stock footage about a Satanic plot to engulf the world in darkness through control of real estate and subversions of church communities.
“I know things like that have been happening,” Watson said when asked if he believes the allegations made by the video. “All you have to do is watch the video and you see.”
Watson said he believes that only the PPC offers Canadians a real alternative to the Liberals and Conservatives.
In Prince George-Peace River-Northern Rockies, he said, voters should vote for the individuals running and not their party leaders and vote based on their beliefs, not strategically.
He said he would be attending an all-candidates forum in Fort St. John in a few weeks. Those interested in following his campaign can visit his website at pgprnr.site.
