PPC's Kyle Delfing pleased with party's growth in North Okanagan-Shuswap

People's Party of Canada candidate Kyle Delfing threw an election night party – and despite his not being elected in North Okanagan-Shuswap, his team still had reason to celebrate.

“Some people thought it was a pretty huge win,” says Delfing.

“When we told people we were at 10 per cent (of the popular vote), what a reaction ... because people know that 10 per cent is that key number. It’s a serious number now – the party was great because of that.”

Delfing increased his popular vote share from 2.7 per cent in 2019.

The PPC ran a campaign opposing public health restrictions, and Delfing says the party's views on vaccine passports drew in new supporters.

“I think that the passports got the attention of people, but once they read our policies, they understood that it’s not just freedom from the vaccine passports, but literally freedom from a dysfunctional form of government in Canada,” said Delfing.

Moving forward, Delfing expects the PPC will shift more to “information mode.”

Locally, he'll continue to push more people in the North-Okanagan-Shuswap to become politically active.

Despite PPC Leader Maxime Bernier not being elected, Delfing was still pleased with the run the former Conservative made in the federal election.

“I actually think he did pretty well. I invited him here April 9 to travel the Okanagan. He really pushed for a national campaign at that moment. He didn’t stop, and he really did a service to the party,” said Delfing.

“He made a sacrifice to the seat, but he brought everybody else up by travelling to the riding, putting face time out, helping his candidates who are new or needed the boost.”