Mike Staffieri, the PPC Candidate for Eglinton Lawrence

          By Chuck Black

"I always liked Max Bernier for his Libertarian leanings, although I initially started out in the Ontario Liberal party, much like my parents," said Mike Staffieri, currently the Peoples Party of Canada (PPC) candidate for Eglinton-Lawrence in the upcoming fall Federal election.

Before joining the PPC, Staffieri contributed to the Ontario Libertarian Party, where he ran as the Libertarian candidate for Eglinton-Lawrence during the 2018 provincial election.

According to Staffieri, his roots in Eglinton-Laurence run deep. He's the son of Italian immigrants who've lived in the riding for over 50 years and started his business career delivering newspapers on Glengrove and Glen Park. In the winter, he shoveled local snow for $5 bucks a driveway and continues to visit his mother in the riding every Sunday for dinner (his father passed away six years ago). Photo c/o PPC Eglinton Laurence.

Staffieri also served a stint as a member of the Conservative Party of Canada (CPC), where he supported Bernier against current Conservative leader Andrew Scheer during the 2017 Conservative leadership election.

"I joined the Conservatives specifically to support Maxime in his leadership bid and, much like Bernier, I left the party after Scheer won," Staffieri said.

But his loyalty during that campaign was noted and the local riding association recently reconnected with Staffieri to see if he'd consider running under the PPC banner.

Staffieri said yes:

I’ve watched the Canadian political landscape for many years and am now dismayed at how much politicians are pandering to special interest groups for votes at the expense of the individual. 

I’m dismayed that Canadians work over five months out of the year just to pay for all the levels of government we're told we need. I’m dismayed on how expensive it is to raise a family in Canada. I’m dismayed at the number of regulations thwarting business startups. I am dismayed at the governments attack on free speech, a right protected under the Charter. 

Government has become an overweight, overreaching behemoth in this country; public masters instead of public servants. 

This is why I am running for the PPC: to help keep more money in your pockets, reduce government spending like corporate bailouts and foreign aid, to protect Canadian sovereignty from foreign bureaucratic intervention (UN Immigration and Climate Pact) and to increase prosperity for all Canadians.

According to Wikipedia, Eglinton—Lawrence "stretches from Yonge Street in the east to Caledonia in the west and from Highway 401 in the north to Eglinton Avenue in the south." As per the 2016 Federal Census, the riding has "the highest percentage of people of Polish ethnic origin (12.0%) and the second-highest percentage of people of Jewish ethnic origin (5.1%). In the 2011 National Household Survey more than 15% of the residents of Eglinton—Lawrence filled in a Jewish ethnic origin." Graphic c/o Wikipedia.

Staffieri has a bachelors degree in business and a professional designation as a nutritionist. He's owned and operated a vitamin distribution company for over thirteen years. Prior to that, he worked in middle management, as a trainer, recruiter and sales executive in the Fortune 500 IT industry.

He also understands the range of ethnic groups who've settled in the riding over the decades and notes that, with so many different cultures and perspectives, everyone needs to be able to speak freely to compare notes, learn from each other and understand the constraints and concerns we all operate under.

"Shut down free speech and you make it far more difficult for everyone to understand others and talk freely and frankly. Free speech is my #1 issue going into the next election." he feels.

"If you're going to promote the causes of the minorities, you need to be for the individual. After all, the individual is the smallest minority," according to Staffieri. "My personal values can be summed as follows. Don’t hurt people, don’t take their stuff, take responsibility, work for it and mind your business. These are values I believe all Canadians have."

"It’s our shared values that make us strong as a nation."