Canadian Press File Photo

By Shaun Penner

Conservative Leadership Bid

Peterson wanting to put Alberta back in the PMO

Feb 11, 2020 | 1:11 PM

Rick Peterson says he wants to ensure that Alberta and Western Canada are represented in the Prime Minister’s Office once again.

Peterson, who announced his intention to run for the Conservative Party leadership late last month, returned to his hometown of Grande Prairie this week as a part of his campaign.

The venture capitalist will be going for the Tory leadership for the second time, after a campaign in 2017, where he ultimately fell short to Andrew Scheer.

Peterson says his biggest motivator to run again comes on the heels of the 2019 federal election, which saw the feeling of alienation rear its head in Western Canada, after the Liberals claimed a minority victory, despite being shutout of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

“We need an Alberta voice in Ottawa. We need an Alberta voice that is bilingual, that speaks the language of business, and the economy, and of jobs,” said Peterson. “We learned in this last election that Canadians are asking us to do better. Be bolder. Be stronger and be more encompassing across the country.”

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He adds that having an increased voice for western Canada can’t come at the expense of silencing the rest of Canada, but rather to unite the country for the common good.

“I am the candidate that has the best chance of continuing getting our support in western Canada, getting support in Ontario and winning in Quebec,” he claimed. “At the end of the day, we want an Albertan in the PMO instead of somebody that doesn’t understand our region as well.”

This second run at the Tory leadership isn’t one that he jumped at right away. He says if another Peace Country native would have put their name forward, he most likely would have stayed away.

“(I) wouldn’t be here today if Rona Ambrose would’ve run,” said Peterson. “Rona is a good, strong conservative, good Albertan, and if she would’ve announced, I’d be right there knocking on doors for her.”

Ambrose, who was born in Valleyview and served as the party’s interim leader between Stephen Harper’s exit in 2015 until Scheer took over in 2017, said in a statement last month that her advocacy for the energy sector and on sexual assault law training was her main focus now, rather than politics.

Peterson says the main platform in his bid surrounds around the elimination of corporate income taxes, slashing personal income taxes to a flat 15 per cent, as well as other policies to make Canada the “boldest, best place to live in.”

But, he adds the need to have a Western Canadian in the PMO is his biggest campaign driver.

“We have to have a western Canadian voice in this leadership race, and that’s the voice I am bringing on behalf of everybody in Grande Prairie and everybody in Alberta.”

You can hear plenty more from EverythingGP’s full interview with Peterson on his run at the Conservative leadership below: