Free Party/Parti Libre Canada candidate Isabelle Sauriol Chiasson

Isabelle Sauriol Chiasson, the Free Party Canada candidate in Beauséjour says she’s never been all that interested in politics — at least not until she saw a video on Facebook last month.

“I’m not a politician, I’m a normal person,” Sauriol Chiasson says with a hearty laugh as she sits behind the desk in her basement studio in Dieppe.

She estimates that her aesthetics business, mainly treating nails and waxing eyebrows, has been more than cut in half by COVID-19 restrictions.

“I decided to join the Free Party because I just watched one video of Martin Gravel and he was asking people, ‘Do you want to join us?'”

Sauriol Chiasson says she found the Free Party leader’s message appealing because she agrees with him that our political system needs change.

“The democracy we have right now is not really a democracy, it’s more of a dictatorship,” she says, suggesting that elite politicians in Ottawa make decisions in their own best interests, not for the benefit of the rest of us.

Sauriol Chiasson points to the Free Party/Parti Libre Canada four-point program which calls for the immediate suspension of “the experimental Covid-19 injection for the entire population” and an independent inquiry into the management of the pandemic.

“We need to have our freedom back, so this is why I joined the Free Party,” she says.

“We need to stand up and say we are all human, we can choose what we want and we can decide because now, nobody really listens to what people want.”

Sauriol Chiasson says suspension of the injections and a national inquiry would allow more time for evidence to be gathered on the safety and effectiveness of the vaccines.

According to its website, the Free Party is running three candidates in New Brunswick, three in Ontario and 53 in Québec.

Direct democracy

The Free Party program also calls for an immediate start to “the process of establishing a direct democracy,” a system that could allow everyone a say in how the country is governed rather than delegating political decisions to elected representatives.

Sauriol Chiasson acknowledges that party proposals aren’t fully worked out yet because Parti Libre Canada is so new, but for her, listening is the key.

“Direct democracy for us is more to listen to what people want,” she says.

“If they go on our website, they can put suggestions on what exactly they want us to do with the Free Party,” she adds.

“If the people of Beauséjour have some suggestions for me, I’m here to listen.”

Environmental concerns

The first point in the Free Party program proposes to “re-establish a healthy, harmonized and balanced social climate with respect for all life.”

It fits with Sauriol Chiasson’s concerns about the effects climate change and pollution will have on her son and her daughter and the generations that follow.

“I’m very concerned because this is what I’m going to leave to my kids, right? This is where my kids are going to live and my grandchildren, if I have some,” she says laughing.

She says that’s why she’s not using plastic lawn signs, glossy brochures or business cards in her campaign.

“If we want to take care of the Earth and the environment, we have to start now because we know those signs are all going to go in the trash,” she says.

“If we start to make little changes, we can make bigger ones later.”