What is the People's Party of Canada?

The People's Party of Canada (in French, Parti populaire du Canada, PPC) is a right-wing populist federal political party founded on September 14, 2018 by former Conservative MP Maxime Bernier. Bernier had run for the Conservative Party leadership in 2017, narrowly losing to Andrew Scheer on the 13th ballot, and resigned from the Conservative caucus on August 23, 2018. The PPC's platform combines free-market economic policy, reduced immigration, opposition to multiculturalism, rejection of climate-change orthodoxy, and scepticism of mainstream public-health institutions.

The PPC has not yet won a federal seat. In its first election (October 21, 2019), the PPC ran 315 candidates (the most of any first-time party in Canadian history) and won 1.6 per cent of the national vote, with Bernier himself losing his Beauce, Quebec seat. In the September 20, 2021 federal election (during the COVID-19 pandemic), the PPC attracted 4.9 per cent of the national vote (about 800,000 votes) by appealing to voters opposed to vaccine mandates and lockdown measures, drawing votes mostly from disaffected Conservatives.

PPC support fell substantially in subsequent elections as pandemic restrictions ended and the Conservatives moved rightward under Pierre Poilievre. The PPC won 4.9 per cent in 2021, 0.7 per cent in the September 2024 by-elections, and 1.8 per cent in the April 28, 2025 federal election. The party has not yet won a seat in the federal House of Commons. PPC candidates have, however, won protest votes that have occasionally affected riding-level results in tight Conservative-Liberal contests.

The PPC has been controversial for its associations with the right-wing Yellow Vest movement (active in Canada from 2018 to 2020), opposition to Canadian COVID-19 measures, and rhetoric about immigration that critics have called extremist. Bernier himself has remained the only nationally recognised PPC figure. The PPC has registered candidates in nearly every federal riding in each election since 2019. The party's structure is more centralised than other federal Canadian parties, with Bernier as both leader and principal spokesperson. The PPC's official colour is purple.