Peter Downing is an Albertan separatist and the former leader of Wexit Canada, now known as the Maverick Party. Downing founded Wexit Canada in the aftermath of

Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since ...

's re-election in the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Members of the House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the maximum four-year term under a 2007 amendment to the ''Canada Elections Act'', t ...

. Downing is also a former member of the

Canadian Armed Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Force. ...

and the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

, serving from 2006 to 2015. He received a conditional discharge for uttering threats against his ex-wife in 2009. Downing stepped aside as leader of

Wexit Canada The Maverick Party, formerly known as Wexit Canada, is a Canadian federal political party. It advocates for constitutional changes to benefit, or the independence of, Western Canada, which includes British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Mani ...

in June after recruiting interim leader and former

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

Jay Hill. Downing was previously a candidate for the

Christian Heritage Party of Canada The Christian Heritage Party of Canada (french: Parti de l'héritage chrétien du Canada), also referred to as CHP Canada, is a minor social conservative and Christian right federal political party in Canada; it was founded in 1987, the brainc ...

in the

2015 Canadian federal election The 2015 Canadian federal election held on October 19, 2015, saw the Liberal Party, led by Justin Trudeau, win 184 seats, allowing it to form a majority government with Trudeau becoming the next prime minister. The election was held to elect m ...

. Downing created two organizations, Alberta Fights Back and Saskatchewan Fights Back, both of which served as vehicles for his

separatist Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...

activism. Through this work he became affiliated with the Prairie Freedom Movement, later becoming their spokesperson. In August 2020, Downing launched the Alberta USA Foundation, along with high visibility billboards in Edmonton and Ottawa, bearing the image of US President Donald Trump, asking the question, "Should Alberta Join the USA?"

Promotion of conspiracy theories

Downing is reported to have promoted multiple

conspiracy theories A conspiracy theory is an explanation for an event or situation that invokes a conspiracy by sinister and powerful groups, often political in motivation, when other explanations are more probable.Additional sources: * * * * The term has a neg ...

including accusations that

left his teaching position over sexual misconduct and that the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation was secretly normalizing pedophilia.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downing, Peter Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Maverick Party politicians Separatists Leaders of political parties in Canada Western Canadian separatists