Joseph Zelezny, the Yukon’s People’s Party of Canada (PPC) candidate in Monday’s election, believes in his party’s federal platform despite a poor vote showing.

“Things are just getting started, and the PPC platform and ideas are out there and popular,” Zelezny told the Star Thursday in an email.

Zelezny won 284 votes in Yukon, or 0.1 per cent.

He told the Star that strategic voting and an alleged federal smear campaign played a part in the election’s results.

“If Yukoners voted for their values, the PPC would have won – that’s an alternate scenario,” he said.

Zelezny said he thinks many Conservative voters believed in the PPC campaign, but cast their ballot for Smith out of fear of a split vote, awarding Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a second term.

Zelezny rejected the idea that nearly 300 votes for him were ballots lost for Smith.

“The (Conservative Party) lost due to their lack of convictions and platform and trying to please everyone and not being the Liberals – they are Conservative in name only, not values,” he said.

He noted that Elections Canada has been asked to investigate a reported smear campaign against his party, led by the Conservatives and a consulting firm headed by former Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella.

Zelezny suggested the investigation could result in “some very interesting results” that could lead to some MPs losing their seats.

“I’ve also heard that many Canadians have lost trust in election integrity and politics in general – various ongoing scandals will also be revealing, and I think we may see another election very soon.”

Zelezny said he would consider running for office again, though not for any existing territorial party.

“If anyone is interested in forming a new one, they can reach out to me to discuss further,” he said.

“We are running out of time to reverse a very negative trend and prevent national and territorial economies from collapsing.”

PPC Leader Maxime Bernier lost his seat in Quebec.