If elected Conservative leader, Pitt Meadows-Maple Ridge MP wants pandemic inquiry

Pitt Meadows–Maple Ridge MP Marc Dalton made it official on the weekend – he is in the race to become the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada.

“I always thought that one day I would take a run at it,” said the local MP, adding that if he didn’t put his name forward this time around, he would have regretted his decision.

Dalton said he is running not only on his political experience, but his life experience: having lived in four different provinces – Quebec, Ontario, Alberta, and British Columbia; his experience in the military, as a teacher, and as a pastor; as well as working in both provincial and federal politics.

Speaking in French in a video declaring his candidacy on Sunday, March 20, Dalton said he was French on his mother’s side and promised to protect the French language and bilingualism – calling them “important.”

He went on to say that he was proud of his Indigenous and Metis heritage, on his father’s side.

In the video, Dalton promised that if elected leader his first order of business will be to push for a national inquiry into the pandemic.

“We doubled our debt during this time,” said Dalton in an interview with The News.

“Did we spend it wisely,” he asked.

He claimed that hundreds of millions of dollars went into companies that were favourable to the Liberal Party during this time, saying an inquiry would look into whether there was any corruption involved.

He also said the Liberal Party’s approach, with respect to implementing COVID-19 mandates, was based upon politics – not public health.

“I think we need to look at that,” he said.

READ MORE: Pitt Meadows – Maple Ridge MP Marc Dalton announces bid for Conservative party leadership

Dalton, who is fully vaccinated for COVID-19, said he is also concerned that Canadians were not given more of a choice around taking the vaccine. He wants an inquiry into how much government coercion took place and if the government knew about side effects from the vaccine.

There have been a lot of other repercussions to COVID-19 and the provincial health mandates, in addition to people who have been hospitalized and those who have died from the virus, Dalton said.

“And I’m not saying that it is not serious. I’m not saying people have not died from COVID. I’m not saying that at all,” he said. But “let’s do an inquiry to see what is the best path forward.”

ALSO: Dalton holds onto his seat in Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows

Divisiveness in the country is also an area of concern for Dalton, noting that COVID-19 mandates removed rights for citizens that should have been protected under Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

“I’m concerned about the commitment to Canadian rights that our government has. I’m very concerned about that,” he said.

“I was in the military. My dad was in the military. We fought for our rights. Those things are important, and as Canadians we shouldn’t just take it glibly,” said the second-term MP.

Dalton recently spoke at a rally against vaccine mandates in Maple Ridge.

At the time, he said he would like to think it was his letter that helped reverse the province’s decision requiring all regulated health professionals had to be vaccinated by March 31 to work in their occupation in this province.

He also said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau should have talked to the leaders of the trucker convoy protest that blocked downtown Ottawa streets for about three weeks at the end of January into February – rather than ignore them.

Dalton has launched a website as he campaigns for the party leadership, marcdalton.com.