Filmmaker Aaron Gunn Wins Conservative Nomination for BC Riding

Conservative activist Aaron Gunn. Courtesy of Aaron Gunn

Activist and filmmaker Aaron Gunn has won the Conservative Party nomination for the B.C. riding of North Island-Powell River.

“The journey has just begun. Excited to be part of the team to defeat Justin Trudeau and make Pierre Poilievre the next prime minister of Canada,” Mr. Gunn said in a Dec. 1 post on X.

Mr. Gunn initially announced his candidacy in September, saying he had watched Canadians’ quality of life go downhill over the last few years, citing health care, public safety, and the cost of living as important issues.

“I believe in putting taxpayers first, respecting our constitutional rights and supporting the hard-working men and women who built (and continue to build) this country every single day,” he said in a statement on his website.

“I have spent the past several years producing documentaries that seek to uncover the truth and highlight the hardships facing many Canadians. While I am proud of my work investigating these issues, I don’t want to just report on them; I want to do something about them.”

As the Conservative candidate for the Vancouver Island riding, Mr. Gunn’s priorities include supporting Canadian natural resources, getting rid of the federal carbon tax, implementing harsher sentences for repeat criminal offenders, and investing in drug treatment and rehabilitation instead of drug decriminalization.

After serving in the Canadian Armed Forces’ reserves and working for the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, Mr. Gunn began producing short-form journalistic content on YouTube. Over the last three years, he has directed and produced several documentaries focusing on issues in Canada such as drugs, public safety, and free speech.

As a filmmaker, Mr. Gunn has interviewed more than 300 Canadians, including journalist Rex Murphy and federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre.

Rejected by BC Liberals in 2021

The riding of North Island-Powell River, which was created in 2013, has been held by NDP MP Rachel Blaney since the 2015 election. While Ms. Blaney won by a sizeable margin of 40 percent to the Conservatives’ 26 percent in 2015, the gap has since narrowed, with the NDP winning 38 percent to the Tories’ 32 percent in the 2019 election, and 39.5 percent to the Tories’ 36 percent in 2021.

Mr. Gunn applied to run as a candidate for leadership of the B.C. Liberal Party in 2021, but was rejected by the Leadership Election Organizing Committee (LEOC). The committee said approving his candidacy would be “inconsistent with the B.C. Liberal Party’s commitment to reconciliation, diversity and acceptance of all British Columbians,” due to previous statements Mr. Gunn had made on social media.

The B.C. NDP had accused Mr. Gunn of spreading “transphobic, racist and sexist rhetoric” on social media, saying he expressed views that systemic racism was a “myth” and that the gender pay gap “doesn’t exist.”

“Today, during a joint meeting of the Party Executive and the Leadership Election Organizing Committee, the party’s elected party executive unanimously accepted LEOC’s recommendation regarding Aaron Gunn’s candidate application. We thank LEOC for their work in this matter,” B.C. Liberal Party president Paul Barbeau said in a statement in October 2021.

In response, Mr. Gunn said that British Columbians who believed in “common sense and freedom of speech” were “no longer welcome in today’s B.C. Liberal Party.”

“Rest assured, if you think this fight is over, you couldn’t be more wrong,” he said. “The fight is only just beginning.”