Great West Media has reached out to every 2025 Federal Election candidate in the Airdrie-Cochrane riding with the same questions. They will be published in the order that they were received.
David Sabine is Airdrie-Cochrane's Libertarian Party candidate in the 2025 Federal Election.
QUESTION: What is your political experience and why have you chosen to run in this election cycle with the Libertarian Party?
ANSWER: I ran for school trustee with TVDSB before returning west, my sister serves as a councillor in Alberta, my father pursued an NDP candidacy in Saskatchewan in the 1970s, and my grandparents supported Tommy Douglas as volunteers. While politics hasn’t been my career focus, my lifelong exposure equips me to run as a candidate, amplifying the voices of Libertarians in Airdrie-Cochrane. Canada’s authoritarian shift over the past nine years — marked by excessive taxation, market intervention, an overreaching administrative state, censorship, and erosion of property and civil rights — concerns me deeply. Libertarian principles can influence the political dialogue for the better.
Q: What have been some of your proudest achievements before running for office?
A: I’m proud to be a husband and provider for my wife and two daughters. I’m also proud of my work as a professional management consultant. I’ve had the privilege of living and working in Airdrie, Fort McMurray, Toronto, London, Ottawa, and the Bahamas, plus earning degrees at University of Regina and a Master’s from Arizona State University. I also take pride in being a TEDx speaker and serving in the Canadian Ceremonial Guard, performing multiple times for Queen Elizabeth during her 1997 visit to Newfoundland and Ottawa.
Q: What will you and your party do to stand up to President Trump’s tariffs and 51st state rhetoric?
A: President Trump’s tariffs and rhetoric are disruptive, but they only gain traction because of Canada’s deep economic vulnerabilities and societal fracture. The economic hardship expected from President Trump’s tariffs is a small fraction of the damage done by the Liberal party these past nine years. And decades of mismanagement and corruption by previous Canadian governments have left our economy fragile and Canadians divided. The calls for separation in Quebec and Alberta grow by the day. Canadians are burdened by trillions in debt and unfunded liabilities, over-regulation, excessive taxation, and policies that stifle economic growth. The chaos south of the border is not the root problem; it’s a symptom of our governments' own failures, amplifying the urgency for a bold shift in how we govern ourselves and engage with the world.
Canada’s unique advantage of bordering the world’s largest economy is not a liability — it is our greatest opportunity. Treating the U.S. as an adversary is shortsighted and the divisive rhetoric from Canada’s mainstream parties is eroding a historically vital relationship beyond repair.
A Libertarian Party approach would prioritize diplomacy and principled negotiation with the US President and state governors to secure genuine free trade with them. This isn’t just about lowering U.S. tariffs — it’s about dismantling Canada’s own self-inflicted barriers. We’d eliminate interprovincial trade restrictions that choke domestic commerce, scrap pipeline bans that kill investments in our energy sector, and end the equalization mandate that punishes productive regions. Supply management, which drives up costs for staples like dairy, cheese, eggs, butter, chicken, and turkey, would be abolished. Canadians have been sold a myth of free trade with the U.S., but our own massive tariffs and quotas on these essentials prove otherwise — keeping prices artificially high and Canadian consumers trapped.
Q: What is the biggest issue facing Canadians that you wish to tackle?
A: Libertarians fundamentally reject central economic planning, whether it’s Trump’s heavy-handed edicts or the suffocating policies of Canada’s recent governments. Both represent the same flaw: a belief that bureaucrats and politicians can micromanage the prosperity of citizens. Ottawa’s market distortions, bloated administration, and disregard for individual liberty, mirrors the authoritarian tendencies we criticize abroad. By slashing these domestic barriers, we’d not only counter U.S. pressure but rebuild an economy resilient enough to thrive, regardless of who occupies the White House.
The Libertarian Party is also deeply concerned about the plight of our country's elderly. Taxpaying Canadians are strained under a shrinking GDP per capita, with socialism’s economic fallout driving taxes up, costs up, and doctors out. Health professionals, lured by far higher salaries and greater freedom elsewhere, are fleeing Canada’s punitive taxes and red tape in droves. Though healthcare is provincial jurisdiction, the next federal government must act with urgency — bolstering our currency, freeing markets to boost productivity, and refining immigration and foreign policy to let hardworking citizens prosper. Canada is facing an unprecedented crisis, driving the nation toward bankruptcy and saddling future generations with an unpayable tax burden.
Q: Anything else you would like to add?
A: The mission of the Libertarian Party of Canada is to reduce the responsibilities and expense of government. This, so that we may each manage our lives to mutually fulfill our needs by the free and voluntary exchange of our efforts and property for the value that best realizes happiness for ourselves, our families, and our communities.
