Jim Oliver runs for PPC in Riding Mountain
April 7, 2025, 1:42 pm
Ryan Kiedrowski, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
His first time running in a federal election, Jim Oliver decided to campaign under the People’s Party of Canada banner in Riding Mountain. Born and raised in Manitoba, Oliver lives on a 160-acre homestead on the edge of Riding Mountain National Park where the Olivers maintain a diverse farm. He also has a background in the automotive industry that includes owning a specialty parts store, and was a professional tattoo artist in Winnipeg before moving to the country.
“Besides being inspired by the platform that was put forth by Maxime (Bernier, party leader) and the PPC concern over the future of this country and the state of everything,” Oliver said when asked what prompted him to run in this election. “With regards to my children’s future, just looking at what they can expect over the next 10, 20 years, living in Canada under the current climate of politics and economy, things are looking pretty bleak from a number of perspectives, and I felt like if it was at all possible that I might be able to affect some change in that regard, that was something that I wanted to take up.”
One issue the PPC is concerned with is immigration, calling for a pause on immigration.
“It isn’t pulling back on immigration, it’s a moratorium,” Oliver explained.
“It’s completely stopping until we can catch our breath, finish all the paperwork, deal with all the illegals, and improve the situation before we permit anyone else. Not to say that there aren’t exceptions that could be made, but as it stands now, it seems like we just don’t have any more room for more people.”
The Carbon Tax is another concern for Oliver, something that he feels is masking the real issue.
“The underlying problem is the Paris Climate Accord that we have signed on to,” he said. “It’s an unreasonable commitment that sees us trying to reduce our use of energy in this country to meet some unrealistic standard that really shouldn’t apply to us.”
Pointing to Canada not being a large emitter of carbon dioxide gas, Oliver questions the actual need to be part of that agreement.
Riding Mountain (formerly known as Dauphin-Swan River-Neepawa) has been a traditional Conservative stronghold, and Oliver has no illusions about a possible upset this time around.
“I don’t have high hopes about winning in this election, although I do hope to come in second at the very least,” he said, adding that during the last election, the PPC drew 10.5 per cent of the popular vote in that riding.
“Which is tremendous for a party that didn’t exist only a few years before. That’s pretty much a three-way tie for second place between the Liberals, NDP, and the PPC.”
The important part for Oliver is to show voters that they do have a choice outside of the traditional parties vying for an election win.
“Giving every party a fair chance, the established main parties have such an advantage over us—with their finances, they have so much money and support—but beyond that, they’re being aided by the mainstream media giving these guys all the attention,”Oliver said. “They’re acting like Maxime doesn’t even exist; like the PPC is not worth considering. They’re some odd fringe party, but when the fringe party starts to represent people’s beliefs, you’ve got to start taking them seriously if we’re going to have a fair and reasonable election.
So that’s what we’re hoping for. If Maxime can get himself into the debates, we’re going to see a very different election this time around, that would be very exciting to see.”
