The group of ex-Conservatives behind the “Centre Ice Canadians” initiative have launched a new federal political party, Canadian Future.
The party said in an announcement Wednesday it seeks to offer Canadians a “radical centrist” political option.
New Brunswick MLA Dominic Cardy is serving as the party’s interim leader.
“Today, Centre Ice Canadians is pleased to announce that a new party, Canadian Future, will begin the process of registering with Elections Canada and prepare to contest elections,” wrote the new party in a press release.
“Canadian Future, which will be an exclusively federal party, will be headed by a National Council with a representative from each province and territory.”
Cardy is a former cabinet minister under New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and is currently a sitting independent MLA. On Tuesday, he confirmed his temporary leadership to Brunswick News.
“My goal is to guide the process of founding this new party and getting ready for a founding convention in 2024. We already have strong policies and ideas developed by folks from across the country, and people stepping up to say they want to see – and that Canada needs to see – a new party that’s ready to confront the 21st century head-on,” said Cardy.
“I am involved in this project because I want to see a positive vision for Canada in 2030, 2040, and beyond – and plans to get us there. I’m not interested in sterile arguments about left vs. right, but in evidence and results.”
Centre Ice Canadians, formerly known as Centre Ice Conservatives, first came to fruition during the pandemic as a response to what its founders believed was the Conservative party drifting too far to the right under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership.
The organization was formed by Alberta businessman Rick Peterson in 2022, a two-time Conservative leadership candidate.
“We heard from Canadians that today’s parties are not ready to meet tomorrow’s challenges,” said Peterson. “We heard that as politics is becoming more and more extreme – so are our parties. They’re following, not leading.”
The press release went on to say that the party “has completed a six-month period of discussions with Canadians from coast to coast on whether Canada needs a new, radical, centrist political option based on evidence, civic nationalism, fiscal responsibility, and social liberalism. The response was overwhelmingly positive.”
The party aims to have a platform that includes a wide variety of policies from across the political spectrum, including electoral reform. It also pledges to create a strategy to reduce and control national debt.
The party is firm in its stance that “climate change is real,” with plans to promote carbon capture, nuclear and renewable energy, while also supporting “the use of democratically sourced fossil fuels, especially Canadian energy.”
Canadian Future also aims to negotiate agreements with First Nations regarding their resource sharing and ability to self-govern.
The party said it plans to increase Canada’s military budget to at least 2% of the country’s GDP, to meet its NATO obligations.
In 2011, Cardy was party leader of the New Brunswick New Democrats, leading the party to 12.98% of the popular vote in the 2014 provincial election, however the party still didn’t win a single seat.
After resigning from the New Democrats, Cardy was appointed strategic issues director by Progressive Conservative leader Blaine Higgs. He was then promoted to chief of staff shortly thereafter and won in the 2018 provincial election for his riding of Fredericton West-Hanwell.
Following that, Cardy was named education minister and held the position for almost four years before resigning. After his resignation, he wrote a scathing public letter which condemned Higgs’ leadership style and was expelled from caucus, according to the National Post.
