Paul Mitchell, People's Party of Canada (PPC) candidate for Red Deer-Mountain View. (Photo supplied)

By rdnewsNOW staff

red deer-mountain view

Meet the candidate: Paul Mitchell, People’s Party of Canada

Oct 15, 2019 | 4:04 PM

Pipelines and equalization are among the hot button issues with central Alberta voters, according to Paul Mitchell, People’s Party of Canada candidate for Red Deer-Mountain View.

The former Reform Party member says it’s something he’s gleaned from several months of door knocking in different communities throughout the riding.

“Almost everywhere I go, the issue of pipelines keeps coming up over and over again,” says Mitchell. “The People’s Party of Canada is the only party that will impose pipelines using Section 92(10) of the Constitution. Any pipeline that we name, and we would start with the Trans Mountain expansion then use it for future pipeline projects as well. They will become an exclusive federal jurisdiction and that means they can’t be blocked by other provinces or the courts and the shovels will get in the ground.”

Equalization is another area of strong interest for local voters, says Mitchell.

“It’s ironic that even though our economy is suffering, Quebec has got a raise this year from $11 billion in equalization, up to $13 billion in equalization money. Of course the people of Alberta feel a little bit offended that this is the situation. It is clearly a rigged game and the People’s Party of Canada is going to be the only party once again, that will bring up this issue and change the equalization formula. It only requires a cabinet decision and it can be done in a single day.” explains Mitchell.

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Locally, Mitchell acknowledges that health care and expansion of the Red Deer Regional Hospital are issues of concern.

“If you go into Red Deer Hospital, a lot of times they have people lined up in the hallways or in the bathrooms and many services are not even available. If you had a heart attack or something like that, they can’t help you, they have to send you to Calgary or Edmonton and so for us, that’s not acceptable.”

Mitchell says the PPC would take away GST revenues from Ottawa and hand it back to the provinces as a dedicated health care fund, thereby increasing Alberta’s healthcare funding by 20-30 per cent. Mitchell says the PPC would also encourage increased innovation in the health care system, along with finding further efficiencies to help address wait times.

Income taxes are another area the PPC would look at making changes to, adds Mitchell.

“We are going to for workers, dramatically slash income taxes from $0-$15,000 in income, there will be no tax,” he declares. “And from $15,000, all the way to $100,000, it’ll be a flat tax of just 15 per cent and we’re also getting rid of the Carbon Tax and we’re not going to replace it like Andrew Scheer wants to do.”

Mitchell is working on private members bills outside of the PPC’s platform, including the Rural Protection Act, Property Protection Act and the Protection for Preborn Children Act, on which he has teamed up with fellow PPC candidate Laura-Lynn Thompson to develop and promote.

Mitchell says there are many differences between his party and the Conservatives.

“We don’t agree with the Conservatives on most policy items,” explains Mitchell. “We will impose pipelines, the Conservatives will not. They want to talk about an energy corridor that will take at least eight to 10 years to negotiate and even after eight to 10 years, there’s still no pipeline in it, so we don’t agree with them on that. The Conservatives don’t even talk about equalization, whereas we are doing that, the Conservatives are in favour of the status quo.”

Mitchell anticipates a minority government following the election, with Alberta having the chance to ‘hold the hammer.’

“If we hold the balance of power finally after many decades of waiting, Alberta will have some strong influence in the House of Commons.”