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More citizen engagement needed in political process: PPC candidate Bennett

Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
By Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
September 8th, 2021

This is the second of five profiles of candidates for the Kootenay-Columbia riding.

There are a few musts that make democracy work.

Democracy must be participatory and it must encourage rigorous dialogue, said Sarah Bennett, People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate for Kootenay-Columbia.

But politics also must be motivated by solid, transparent values, which is why she so strongly supports the PPC and its precepts.

On Sept. 20 Bennett will be adding her name to the ballot list as a candidate for the PPC, but she is more than party platforms. Bennett said she “stands for the freedoms outlined in the Canadian charter and is staunchly opposed to any form of health apartheid or pervasive digital identity mandate.”

More citizen engagement is needed in the political process, Bennett noted, to “increase the breadth of dialogue, to spread awareness of the threat to our liberties and to defend the lifestyle Kootenay folk love so much.”

She has a strong sense of civic duty. In 2005 in Invermere she ran for town council and served one term as councillor.

“(I have) always been an advocate for responsible governance that balances fiscal, social, environmental priorities, adding that she believed in sovereignty at both the national and individual levels.

As a self-taught brand developer, Bennett has been self-employed for the last 20 years. But her passion for politics began in high school as co-head of the political affairs club at Havergal College in Toronto.

Bennett had the opportunity to meet several premiers and a prime minister at an early age, and it helped her realize politicians are only human.

Later on Bennett went to McGill University and graduated with a BA in political science, eventually migrating from east to the west and to the Columbia Valley in 2002 with a year spent at Panorama Resort post university.

“Kootenay-Columbia is a stunning part of Canada, a place where so many like-minded people live and enjoy the freedom of nature and the solace of backcountry excursions,” she said.

 

The 2021 federal election goes Sept. 20

The candidates currently include a roster of five:

• Rob Morrison – Conservative Party (https://voterobmorrison.ca/about/);

• Wayne Stetski – New Democratic Party (https://www.facebook.com/Stetski/);

• Robin Goldsbury – Liberal Party (https://www.robingoldsbury.ca/);

• Rana Nelson – Green Party (https://www.greenparty.ca/en/riding/2013-59015); and

• Sarah Bennett, People’s Party of Canada (https://kootenayppc.ca/kootenay-columbia-ppc-candidate-sarah-bennett/)

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