Cloverdale businessman Rana G. Ahmad is running for the newly-formed Centrist party in Cloverdale-Langley City.
Ahmad, a realtor who lives in Cloverdale, said he decided to run after hearing criticism of the established parties.
“Most people are complaining about the main parties,” Ahmad said.
“We need real change.”
Among local issues Ahmad listed were deterioration of housing, congestion and general quality of life.
Congratulations!
— Dr. Rana_ Leader Centrist Party Canada (@DrRana_Centrist) August 19, 2021
Rana G. Ahmad, Candidate Centrist Party Cloverdale-Langley, BC#CentristParty pic.twitter.com/zWvBbvccM0
Ontario-based Centrist Party of Canada was founded in 2020 by neurologist Dr. Abdul Qayyum Rana, who established the World Parkinson’s Program, a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to improving the lives of those with Parkinson’s disease by proving free medications and other supportive services.
Centrist is listed as an “eligible” party for registration by Elections Canada, meaning it has met all of the legal requirements to be registered, other than running a candidate in a general election or by-election.
Such parties are eligible to run candidates in federal elections but will not be considered registered by Elections Canada until they have contested an election.
A statement on the party website says Dr. Rana “strongly believes that parties promoting extremist right-wing or left-wing political agendas fail to work on common ground which is necessary to progress in a democratic society. In his views, extremism and hyper-partisanship only divide Canadians and weaken us as a nation.”
Among other thing, the leader has called for more transparency in government, development of LNG in British Columbia, saying it could add more than 96,000 jobs yearly across Canada, increasing the age limit of recreational use of marijuana, and not allowing home growing.
“Canadians know that this federal election is only to change Liberal minority to Liberal majority government since [the] Liberal government has been working on vote buying by spending taxpayer’s money recklessly,” Dr. Rana said.
READ ALSO: People’s Party of Canada fields Langley candidates
READ ALSO: SkyTrain, housing and cost of living among top issues listed by Langley candidates
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