Editor's note: In the coming days, BarrieToday will be providing our readers with profiles on the federal candidates in the Simcoe-Grey riding, which has boundaries that abut the City of Barrie's western edge. The riding includes Essa Township and the village of Angus. For more local coverage on the federal election, visit our Canada Votes 2021 page.
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For Simcoe-Grey's Christian Heritage Party candidate, the upcoming federal election is a chance for Canadians to resist tyranny and stand up for their values.
Ken Stouffer is running for the Simcoe-Grey MP seat in his first election campaign.
“I’m enjoying the process, and I’m enjoying the opportunity to be involved in this very important part of our society,” said Stouffer.
He and his wife have lived in the Alliston area for 42 years where they raised five children and still welcome “many, many grandchildren.”
Stouffer, now 65, developed his interest in politics in his teenage years, studying political science at the University of Toronto.
He built a career as a recruiter and has been self-employed for 12 years. A former member of the Conservative Party, Stouffer has instead aligned himself with the Christian Heritage Party, which better reflects his views, he said.
“I see us in Canada at a tipping point. We’re rapidly sliding into a tyranny, into a police state, I would say, and I don’t think that’s an exaggeration,” he said. “We are on the brink of losing the freedoms that, unfortunately, we’ve taken for granted in this country.”
The Christian Heritage Party has built a platform on what the party calls “Judeo-Christian principles found in the Canadian constitution.”
Stouffer said he’s not under any illusion the Christian Heritage Party will form the next Canadian government, but he was unhappy with the other party options, and felt he had to stand up for the values he believes in.
“Christian values are important and we ought to be living our lives according to them,” he said. “When enough people agree, we can change laws.”
The party policies propose to “restore traditional marriage, end gender indoctrination, protect all pre-born, and repeal assisted suicide.”
For Stouffer, the main issue this election is COVID-19-related restrictions.
“Top of my mind right now is the tyranny that Canada is facing,” he said. “These lockdowns that we’ve been experiencing are killing small businesses.”
He said Canada’s health-care systems are funded through taxes, and since businesses are struggling to bring in revenue because of lockdowns, it’s a double whammy.
“They have destroyed thousands upon thousands of businesses and so our tax revenues have shrunk, and yet, they’re spending money like drunken sailors,” said Stouffer. “Who is going to be paying for that?”
Stouffer argued lockdowns are more harmful than helpful.
“Canada is a free and prosperous country, or at least it has been… because of Christian values that are embedded in our founding documents and legal system,” he said.
Stouffer is one of six candidates running in the federal election for the Simcoe-Grey riding.
The other five candidates include Terry Dowdall (Conservative), Adam Minatel (People’s Party of Canada), Lucas Gillies (NDP), Nicholas Clayton (Green Party), and Bren Munro (Liberal).
The federal election is Sept. 20, with advance voting beginning Sept. 10.
