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Maxime Bernier says he believes a growing desire for “bold changes” will drive support for his fledgling political party, a theory that will be put to the test in three federal by-elections next month.

The People’s Party of Canada founder, who is in Saskatchewan to drum up support ahead of the October federal election, said he expects his candidates to do well, but he won’t know for sure until the ballots are counted.

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“Yes, it is a test. It is a test because we just started the party four months ago,” Bernier said after speaking to around 50 people at a Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce lunch on Monday.

“People, they don’t know the name of our party. They cannot say, ‘Oh, the People’s Party of Canada.’ My name recognition is very good, but we need to improve the party’s name recognition — that’s our challenge.”

Starting a new political party is not an easy task. It took the Green Party of Canada 28 years to win a seat in the House of Commons; the western populist Reform Party needed six years to get an MP elected.