In 2023, a number of serious challenges have come to the fore in Canada. There are the extreme wildfires that have received global attention. The country might be sitting on the biggest housing bubble in history. Inflation remains persistent while interest rates threaten a recession. Household debt has continued to grow and has surpassed 100 percent of GDP, the highest in the G7. And to top it all off, relations with the world’s two most populous countries (and its two largest sources of immigrants) have cratered over allegations of foreign interference including an assassination.

So, what do some in the political class think Canadians now need? You guessed it, yet another political party. Of course, this is not an endeavor aimed at establishing a viable socialist party to represent the interests of working people. Instead, it’s the brainchild of members of the power elite who feel that the centrist Liberal Party isn’t centrist enough and the Conservative Party is too crude. It is not an effort to give color to the political spectrum; it is an attempt to replace anemic gray with anemic gray and hope that the newness of the packaging will appeal to voters.

On September 20, the Canadian Future Party (CFP) was unveiled. In recent years, there has been growing talk of a new centrist party, with momentum building notably since Pierre Poilievre assumed leadership of the Conservative Party. A group called Centre Ice Canadians (formerly Centre Ice Conservatives) has led the charge. The group was founded by Rick Peterson, an investment banker based in Edmonton who ran in the 2017 Conservative Party leadership election and finished twelfth out of fourteen.