Ontario Moderate Party leader and Newmarket-Aurora candidate Yuri Duboisky said he helped start the party to improve people's health.
The farmer and consultant said he did not feel well represented by the parties remaining after the Reform Party merger with the Conservatives. He said it motivated him to start his party in 2011.
He said the key to his platform is a desire to help Canadians be healthier. He said he is concerned by the rates of obesity, and more needs to be done to address unhealthy lifestyles.
“What is wrong is ideology. People’s behaviour is connected to what they believe,” he said, adding they want to change that. “You have to offer something new, and we started to act in that direction, so now we have a party.”
Duboisky said he immigrated from the Soviet Union where Ukraine now stands as a country, with a diploma in the automotive industry. He said he can speak Russian, Ukrainian, Polish and German. When not at his farm in Mount Albert, he said he consults for others in those communities on issues like immigration, family problems and taxes.
Although he does not live in the Newmarket-Aurora riding — and did not run for the party here in the past two elections — he said the party has a club there where he spends the majority of his time.
“I have a lot of supporters in Newmarket,” he said, “ a very close connection with people in Newmarket.”
The party is running 16 candidates in the election, as it did in 2018 when it garnered approximately 2,200 votes.
He said he does not necessarily have great odds this election, but that is OK with him.
“To get a seat in Parliament is not our main objective. Our objective is to make us known to the people, and then people will decide. One way is participating in elections," he said, adding winning the following election may be more possible. “It takes time, and it’s not so easy.”
Duboisky has yet to attend any of the all-candidates events, which he said has been due to a busy schedule.
But he said his party offers a good focus on promoting a healthier lifestyle to help citizens live longer. The party platform includes investing more in health education and improving transparency in the health-care sector.
“I don’t see anybody offering anything like (us),” he said.
Despite limited electoral success so far, he said he keeps the party going to set an example.
“The main idea was to do it on behalf of my family, of my children,” he said. “If I want people to follow me, including my children, I do have something to do in practice, and I am doing it.”
