Former Conservative leadership candidate flies United Party flag in Durham by-election

Grant Abraham sought to replace Erin O'Toole as Conservative Party leader but now he seeks to replace him as the Member of Parliament for Durham, Ontario.

Abraham, Joseph Bourgeault, and Joel Etienne were rejected as Conservative leadership candidates May 2, 2022, though each claimed they had received the necessary signatures and fundraising total necessary to do so. Now Abraham is running in a March 4 federal by-election.

In an interview with Western Standard, Abraham said from the time he sought the Conservative leadership until today, his motivation is to correct the "desperately wrong" direction of Canada under Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

"Why I attained the support I did was that people knew that or something desperately wrong in the country, but we weren't having the conversations about what those those cellular, those deeper kind of issues were," Abraham explained.

"Post-nation state, [great] reset, foreign interference-- that is low hanging easy fruit."

On December 15, 2023 Elections Canada declared the United Party of Canada eligible for registration, and on February 6 the party received official registration. The UPcanada.org website says its "bedrock values" of family, security, prosperity, classic education, and religious freedom inspire what follows.

The party states its opposition to the ceding of national sovereignty to globalist entities, the carbon tax and U.N. sustainable development goals, and the sexualization of children and normalization of pedophilia.

In 15 policies for change, the party also calls for the CBC to be defunded; ensuring parliament makes law, not judges; reformed equalization payments, a temporary moratorium on immigration, the establishment of a national energy corridor, the restoration of the Canadian Armed Forces, a lift of the ban on conversion therapy, protection of law abiding gun owners and the right of self-defence, the requirement that agricultural land be Canadian-owned, and the restoration of the hypocratic oath and informed consent in medicine.

Abraham, an Abbotsford, B.C. resident who has experience in international development, wrote the book Battle for the Soul of Canada: Firing the Forge in 2023. He said conversations at the doors in Durham suggest voters like his platform.

"I haven't had real criticism about those policies. In fact, I've heard an overwhelming resonance. I'm not giving them to NDP voters, that's a quite a conservative riding. So I think there's a natural intuitive connection to many of those policies," Abraham said.

"It's deeply resonating with Canadians as we have these conversations young and old."

Brenda Virtue, a former Conservative who ran in the Durham riding for the People's Party in 2019, was the first local to sign Abraham's nomination papers. She likes his pro-life stance and has been distributing literature at the door during the by-election.

"He is very articulate. A lawyer and a sheep farmer, what a combination!" she said.

"I was disillusioned after everybody [in PPC] lost in 2019. But here's a man that has godly principles, and he wants to take our nation back to our original moral and spiritual values that made our country great. And I think we need it. We've been praying for God to raise up righteous champions across our nation, and He's doing it."

The Durham riding, whose borders changed due to national realignments of ridings, is well-contested. Conservative nominee Jamil Jivani avoided local debate events, but is likely to win a seat that O'Toole took by a 9 percent margin over the Liberals in 2021. The Liberals' candidate is Scugog councillor Robert Rock, who had sought to be the Conservative candidate. The NDP are represented by electrician and education co-ordinator Chris Borgia, a 2022 provincial NDP candidate. Businesswoman and People's Party candidate Patricia Conlin is running in her second election.