Former PPC candidate embraces Conservatives at Poilievre rally

A former People's Party candidate, wowed at a Pierre Poilievre rally in Saskatoon, now openly supports her former electoral opponent Andrew Scheer.

Tracey Sparrowhawk ran against Scheer in the riding of Regina-Qu'Appelle in 2019. However, she was eager to attend the Poilievre rally on April 24. Prior to the event, she posted a picture to Instagram stories from the venue's parking lot, happily holding an Andrew Scheer sign.

The audiologist said her previous PPC affiliation was prompted by the failures of previous Conservative leadership, starting with Scheer.

"He was good in Parliament and when they made him leader, I thought wow, he's going to be great. But then he just kept backing down on everything. And he wouldn't take a stand on anything. And any time the Conservatives put out a really great ad, they'd take it down right away if they got a little bit of pushback."

The disaffected Sparrowhawk gravitated to Maxime Bernier and the PPC. She received 513 votes in 2019, placing fifth in Regina-Qu'Appelle in 2019, while Scheer won with 24,463. This was 63.12% of all votes cast, compared to Sparrowhawk's 1.32%.

"A lot of my Conservative friends were against me," Sparrowhawk said of her first run. "They bashed us constantly. And then next time around, oh there they are at the PPC rallies."

Conservatives lost five seats in the West when Erin O'Toole led the party, offering what Sparrowhawk calls "a light version of the Liberals."

Sparrowhawk's hopes for a PPC win in 2021 weren't realized. In Regina-Qu'Appelle, PPC candidate Andrew Yubetta took 1,668 votes for 5.1% of the vote and fourth place, but Scheer won again with 20,400 votes and 61.9% of the total.

The next year, Poilievre became Conservative leader. Sparrowhawk finds him impressive in Parliament or behind a podium.

"He doesn't back down. He's very articulate. He's so smart. He has all this wealth of knowledge and history," she said.

"He's just a well-read, articulate, personable man who loves his country, who wants to do what's right for the country, who understands that Canada should be a leader and the most prosperous nation on earth with all the resources that we have," she added.

Sparrowhawk said the Poilievre rally in Saskatoon was "awesome." She said an estimated 4,500 gathered at an industrial warehouse, though mainstream media only stated the crowd was "over 1,000".

She was happy to meet YouTube celebrity the Pleb Reporter, but some media were less welcome.

"The CBC van drove in and everybody just booed," Sparrowhawk said with a laugh. "And somebody said they took their decals off their equipment."

After getting inside and "waiting and waiting," Sparrowhawk and another attendee passed the time by starting the wave. "It went around three times, it was so fun!" she recalled.

Sparrowhawk said Anaida and Pierre Poilievre were worth the wait.

"Any sane person would be championing this platform because there's something in it for everybody--cutting income taxes 15%, getting our resources out of the ground, repealing all those anti-pipeline bills, making it easier for companies to get approval to go ahead. There's just so much there that will help bring prosperity back to our country and make it a leader."

Sparrowhawk's only quibble was that Poilievre mentioned "Trump tariffs", but said nothing about Chinese tariffs on canola and pork.

"He did a great job also outlining Mark Carney's lies and what the Liberals want to do, so it was really good. I just don't understand how people can't support his policies and what he wants to do."

The People's Party is polling under 2%. Sparrowhawk said she still likes Bernier's stance on issues, but "he hasn't proven that he can deliver on anything," since he can't get a seat.

"Nobody's taking him seriously anymore because he's irrelevant now," she said. "Yeah, he'll call out the Liberals once in awhile, but mostly he's going after the Conservatives. And if he did by some miracle win a seat, or a couple of seats, they're not going to work with him. He would have no influence. He's just shooting himself in the foot."