By Al Beeber – Lethbridge Herald on March 26, 2025.
Herald photo by Al BeeberConservative Party candidate Rachael Thomas launched her campaign for re-election Tuesday. Thomas is running for a fourth term in the Lethbridge riding.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDabeeber@lethbridgeherald.com
Three-time Lethbridge MP Rachael Thomas launched her campaign for re-election with a rousing speech to a large, impassioned crowd on Tuesday night.
Thomas, who was first elected to the House of Commons in 2015, stood in front of a podium and emphatically said “Campaign ’25, here we go” before launching into her Conservative party’s priorities and discussing what her party believes are the Liberals’ failings.
Thomas noted that things have changed since her first campaign when she was elected under her maiden name Harder. She now has a husband, Victor Thomas and the couple are parents to a child born last year.
Thomas told the crowd that momentum is building for the Conservatives across Canada and hope is rising.
“We are hearing from Canadians that it is time to put Canada first,” said Thomas to huge applause.
“The Liberals have spent the last 10 years inflating the cost of housing and food, weakening our economy and driving up food lines as well as taking away the affordability of everyday life.”
She talked about how rising costs are impacting affordability for all Canadians and that Liberal leader Mark Carney, who she called former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s handpicked successor, has on his cabinet 87 per cent of the people who were on his predecessor’s. And the Liberals are trying to trick Canadians into giving them another chance, she said.
“The same Liberals who raised the carbon tax, who doubled the national debt, who drove up food bank lines, who drove up housing costs and who made the cost of living at a record high, these are the same politicians who blocked pipelines, who shut down LNG projects and passed anti-energy Bill C-69 which makes us more beholden to the United States of America rather than less,” said Thomas.
“Energy keeps us alive,” said Thomas, and if Canada doesn’t develop its own resource here, the country will be developing someone else’s.
“The need doesn’t go away, it just means we bring it from dirty dictators – blood oil – instead of oil that can be ethically and environmentally produced here in our country,” said Thomas.
People want Conservatives to create policy that will develop the economy and create jobs, budget within their means and cut taxes so Canadians can make ends meet, she said.
And they want the party to stand up for seniors, victims, and to care for families and support veterans while being mindful of the cost and size of government, she said.
She said party leader Pierre Poilevre has a “relentless belief in Canada’s potential” and a Conservative government will “axe the taxes that make life unaffordable right now. We will build homes for families that need them, we will cut government waste and reckless spending. We will lock up violent criminals and keep our streets safe. We will secure our borders and protect our sovereignty. We will unleash our natural resources to create good jobs, energy independence and national strength, because putting Canada first means putting Canadians at the forefront,” added Thomas.
She said American president Donald Trump’s tariffs threaten Canadian industries, sovereignty and prosperity “but we will not be bullied as a nation. We not be weak, we will stand on our own two feet and we will protect our economy, our workers and our independence,” Thomas added.
“We will never surrender our sovereignty or our freedom.”
If elected, the Conservatives will lift the federal energy cap “and we will approve LNG plants, pipelines and mines to create high paying jobs for Canadians. We will strengthen our economy by knocking down trade barriers that currently prevent us from moving goods and services and people just between provinces,” she said to applause.
The Conservatives will also end federal catch-and-release policies where criminals are arrested and put back on the street the next day, Thomas said, noting that in Vancouver the police chief has stated that 40 people are responsible for 6,000 crimes a year which Thomas said is because of Liberal mismanagement and “the laws that they have put in place that allow for this catch-and-release system to perpetuate.”
Conservatives believe that mandatory jail time needs to be imposed for violent repeat offenders and hard drugs need to be banned.
“And we need to offer real recovery programs to those who are struggling with addictions so we can bring them home to their loved ones, she added.
The party will cap immigration at sustainable levels and crack down on fraud to ensure new Canadians come to Canada to build a better life and not exploit the system.
The party will also build the military, she added.
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