Devin Wright for MPP

Sunday, 25 May 2014 at 06:47

19 year old Devin Wright running as Oxford's Libertarian candidate

WOODSTOCK -- Nineteen year old Devin Wright is your Oxford Candidate for the Libertarian Party.

A graduate of Huron Park Secondary School in Woodstock, Wright says while he didn't serve on any student councils or clubs, he loves to debate politics. Calling himself a former Conservative, he later found the Libertarian Party to be the best fit for him and his views on how he'd like to fix Ontario...

"What brought me to coming with this is that I see Ontario going in a downward spiral. We have too big of a government, it takes a lot of people's money to support that government, that's why taxes are so high. That's why gas prices are so high -- that's why everything is so high."

The Libertarian Party in Ontario can be traced back to 1975, and was inspired by the formation three years earlier of the U-S Libertarian Party.

The party's leader in Ontario is Allen Small.

Libertarian Party values stand for personal responsibility, individual liberty, and controls and restrictions on governments.

Party members say they recognize property rights and stand for free and voluntary associations and believe in voluntary, not forced, mutual aid.

"I used to support the Conservative Party, because I never really searched for anything else," says Wright.

"But then one day I was debating somebody who was Libertarian, so I researched and actually went to the American site and I realized that really reflected how I feel about society. That's why I joined the Libertarian Party of Canada and then the Libertarian Party of Ontario and that's why I'm here right now running."

Wright recently attended the first all candidates meeting and admits he didn't know about the meeting until about three hours before. After showing up to participate, he later called it an amazing learning experience for him.

Wright says he'll be promoting the Libertarian campaign with some door-to-door canvassing, election signs and social networking.

"I'll be going door-to-door and trying to get to every major town and city in Oxford County."