Is Derek Sloan Starting a New Political Party?

Written By Daniel Bordman, Posted on May 23, 2021

Rumours have been swirling around the political world in Canada on whether or not there may be a new political party coming from Independent MP Derek Sloan. 

It was always a possibility that Sloan may start a new party ever since the Conservative Party and its leader Erin O’Toole seemingly framed Sloan for a non-scandal as an excuse to throw him out of caucus. Sloan is seeking reelection and having a party infrastructure built up around him would make the process of getting reelected much easier, especially through getting more exposure on a federal debate stage.

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All that is simply observations of the specific circumstances Sloan has found himself in, more recently what seems to be indicating he may start his own party has been the manner in which he has been behaving on the national stage, in terms of interviews, rallies, and messaging on different political issues.

Often backbencher MPs in major parties and Independent MPs tend to stick to advocating for issues and movements affecting only their own ridings, but Sloan has been producing videos on various pieces of legislation, touring the country to advocate for the end of lockdowns, and gaining exposure through an interview on the American news network OANN, which feels quite outside the behaviour of an Independent just trying to maintain their seat. 

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During many of his recent rallies and the OANN interview Sloan has also mentioned building a “movement” in Canada, which would be quite empty if it was referring to anything besides a new political party. 

Sloan later in the OANN interview stated:

Six out of ten Canadians in a recent poll felt they didn’t identify with any current federal political party, so the appetite is growing for something new, a movement that respects citizens, respects democracy, respects freedoms, and I am working to promote that to create a movement for others who feel the same way. I believe for sure there is a tremendous amount of arrogance at the highest levels and I think they will pay for it dearly, hopefully in the next election.

Canada at the moment does seem to have a large void within its politics, with all of the major parties sitting on the centre to centre-left of the political spectrum, and the only right-wing alternative being the People’s Party of Canada that still only polls around 1-4 percent in most provinces, likely due to its libertarian stances.

Considering the current breakthrough success of Western parties like the federal Maverick Party scoring 7 percent and 9 percent in a recent Angus Reid poll in Alberta and Saskatchewan, and the Wildrose Independence Party achieving a stunning 17 percent in a Mainstreet poll, it seems like Canadians, and especially Western Canadians are much more open to alternative parties in 2021 compared to 2019. 

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If Sloan does create a party one of his biggest assets may be Erin O’Toole and Jagmeet Singh as pulled Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Party over to a much less broadly appealing socialistic economic position to try and keep from votes bleeding to the NDP, and O’Toole has pushed the Conservatives so much to the left he has obscured many of the past differences between the Liberals and Conservatives. Arguably O’Toole is now more to the political left than Jean Chrétien.

Voter fatigue in the stagnant slow movement left in Canadian politics may attract Canadians to a party run by the one-time Conservative leadership candidate if he can bring an anti-establishment message that can still appeal to the mainstream Canadian voter.

Update:

On May 24 Derek Sloan released a video where he said to those who may feel hopeless in the direction of Canada that “I want you to know that I have a plan to keep Canada true north strong and free.”

The full video can be seen embedded below.

Daniel Bordman

Daniel is the host of political satire show Uninterrupted, runs multiple podcasts and has written for a variety of publications. Daniel is also the communications coordinator of the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation. You can find him on Twitter here. Uninterrupted on YouTube

8 responses to “Is Derek Sloan Starting a New Political Party?”

  1. JGP says:

    I have not been able to discern how O’toole’s Conservative Party is different from all the Liberals parties past that I never voted for. So I am looking for an alternative who doesn’t have a hair fetish.

  2. Lorraine says:

    I hope that Derick Sloan do form another party. He would sure get my vote. He is the only politician who is standing up for our Rights and Freedoms! If either the Liberals or Conservatives win the next election we will be under Communist rule. Pretty sad for all of us!

  3. Kerry says:

    O’Toole has gone so far "Left", he’ll NEVER be "Right"! Honestly, Pierre Poilievre would have won the CPC leadership EASILY and he’s a very smart man! He would also easily win the next federal election given his performance in the HoC! But, since he didn’t run for it, Derek Sloan is easily my pick! Good luck, Derek!

  4. Alka says:

    Not another party. We have PPC and Jim Karahalios’s party already. If they do politics for the love of Canada then why don’t they join together? This fracturing is driving me crazy.

  5. Renaud says:

    My question is very simple…
    What is Sloan presenting that is so different from the PPC? I have been following him, his stance on issues and policy proposals very closely – they are almost a mirror image to that of the PPC.
    Therefore, the follow-up question is: why would he feel a need to re-invent the wheel and start an entire new federal party when that requires an ENORMOUS amount of resources to basicly offer more of the same?

  6. Angelo Baleta says:

    Derek Sloan is the true conservative. CPC is not a conservative party any more under O’Toole. If Derek will form his own right-wing party, i applaud him for that, but, thinking that it may need a lot of resources for him to accomplish what he would like. On the other hand, if PPC convince Derek to join with them, i may not be against it, but, will support Derek with PPC all the way. I will not vote CPC while it’s under O’Toole, but, another right wing will be a good chance to counteract this Liberals, NDP, Bloc and Green left-wing thinking. It’s too much for me to ponder. These left wing parties are VIRUS to the nation’s democracy proceedings!

  7. Ray Majeau says:

    That is encouraging Derek Sloan. Now if you can convince Pierre Poilievre to come onboard I suspect you will do very well. You have my vote.

  8. R Shaw says:

    I, too, have had it with all three major parties, federally and provincially – they’re all too much alike. I shall be voting for either Independent or for an alternative party. Tired of being duped by Conservatives during their campaign, only to see their real colours after election day.