Robert McFadzean is once again in the running for Lakeland MP as the candidate for the Libertarian Party of Canada.
While he doesn’t consider himself a politician, McFadzean’s main priorities are to decrease taxes and government regulations.
“Our contention is if you do that, we find that people will prosper,” he said, adding he would be opposed to any legislation put forward that would increase either.
According to McFadzean, the basic philosophy of libertarianism is the government having minimal impacts on people’s lives.
“That’s the right that everybody has to choose for themselves, and where that leads to is that any income that a person earns, for example, is their property. They decide what to do with it,” he explained. “When a government comes along and taxes away a part of that income, then they’re violating the liberty of that person. They’re taking away their property, which is a violation of that person’s rights.”
McFadzean noted the main libertarian belief is people are free to decide how to interact with each other as long as no one’s rights are breached.
Tim Moen is the current leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada. Their main mission is to reduce the size, scope, and cost of government.
McFadzean believes people should be allowed to live how they choose, and the government shouldn’t interfere in that respect. He used the idea of stealing from your neighbour to illustrate his point.
“That’s just out of the question. That’s not how you would get along with your neighbour… On a person-to-person basis as individuals, that’s how we treat people, and to me, there’s no reason why the government should be any different. There’s no basis for the government to be able to over step… how you get along with people.”
According to McFadzean, the basis of libertarianism started back in the 1700s after the American war of independence when people decided it was time to break from the British monarchy and a relatively free society was established.
“It spread into the western countries, and led to a tremendous progress of wellbeing of people. We would argue that was because of liberty, that was because of the freedom people had, and since then, it seems like the governments in this country have gradually backtracked on that… We’re still free enough that our economy and lives are tremendously better than 200 years ago, but we would suggest it could be even better if we were more free than we are now,” he expressed.
After being part of the Libertarian Party of Canada for a number of years, McFadzean decided to put his name forward for Lakeland MP. He first ran for the position in the 2015 federal election.
“Libertarians typically get approximately one per cent of the vote, so when you run as a Libertarian you’re not exactly expecting to get elected. But, as a Libertarian, I wanted to vote for liberty. I want to vote for a Libertarian, so I run as a Libertarian so I and other like minded people have a Libertarian to vote for.”
The Vermilion-native spent 23 years teaching at Lakeland College in economics and financial management in the agriculture department. He’s married with seven children and has been involved in the community through his church and the local music festival.
When he ran during the 2018 provincial election for the Vermilion-Lloydminster-Wainwright riding, McFadzean pledged to cover his own expenses and to put any salary he earns, if elected, into a fund toward promoting liberty. He also promised to do the same if he’s chosen as MP for the Lakeland.
“In my mind, you’re just monitoring the fact that the laws are in place that allow people to have their liberty,” he detailed. “To me, if everything was set up properly, it would require maybe a couple of weeks. You would get these people to come together, and just look over the situation and say, ‘Is everything fine? Is there anything we need to change?’ and then go home and back to work.”
Along with McFadzean, People’s Party of Canada candidate Alain Houle and incumbent Conservative Shannon Stubbs will be vying for votes when Canadians hit the polls.
