Freedom Party of Ontario

The Freedom Party of Ontario is a provincial political party in Ontario, Canada that was founded on 1 January 1984 by Robert Metz and Marc Emery - then of London, Ontario - as a successor to the Unparty.

Contents

Founding

The Unparty was a political party founded and registered (under Ontario's election finances legislation) by Marilou Gutscher, who had been previously been associated with the Ontario Libertarian Party. Metz and Emery had been most successful in building the Unparty organization, and the party was handed over to them when Gutscher decided not to pursue the Unparty project any further.

Ideology

Sometimes labelled as "libertarian", the Freedom Party actually opposes libertarianism's tolerance for anarchism, and instead espouses political "freedom", in the sense that term is used by objectivists. The party refers to itself not as libertarian, but as capitalist. Instead of embracing the libertarian motto that "the government that governs least governs best", Freedom Party states that "the purpose of government is to protect every individual's fundamental freedoms, not to restrict them."

1984 - 2002

From 1984 through to 2002, Fp was most active between elections rather than during them. A partial record of its activities is published in the party newsletter, Freedom Flyer.

Robert Metz was the party's first president, and became its first official leader in 1987. He was succeeded by Jack Plant in 1994; Plant, in turn, stepped down in favour of Lloyd Walker in 1997.

2002 - present

Oshawa, Ontario lawyer Paul McKeever was elected party leader when Walker stepped down in 2002. Since that time, the party has undergone much growth and reorganization. The Freedom Party of Ontario adopted a new objective: to influence government through the election of Fp members of the Ontario provincial legislature "for the better protection in Ontario of every individual's rights of life, liberty and property". The Freedom Party of Ontario moved from a party that advocates the political philosophy of freedom, to a party that seeks governmental power in Ontario.

A new organization, Freedom Party International, took on the Freedom Party of Ontario's previous, non-electoral role of educating and advocating freedom, while co-ordinating and supporting Freedom Parties in all political jurisdictions. Freedom Party International took over, and continues to publish, the Freedom Party's journal of ideas on individual freedom, Consent.

The Freedom Party of Ontario's growth was hindered during the years of the Progressive Conservative government of Mike Harris (1994 through 2002): many who might otherwise have supported the Freedom Party believed that Harris' Progressive Conservative Party would be more likely to win seats at that point in time.

In 2002, Mike Harris resigned, and was replaced as PC Party leader and Ontario Premier by his former Minister of Finance, Ernie Eves. Eves was perceived by many on the political right to be more moderate than Harris, and therefore a less effective proponent of the ideals promoted by the Freedom Party.

The Ontario election of October 2, 2003 was the first in which the Freedom Party presented itself as an electoral option, rather than as a source of ideas. It ran candidates in almost 25% of Ontario's ridings, promoted an electoral platform titled "The Right Direction", and argued that the Freedom Party of Ontario was Ontario's only remaining party of common sense.

Political contributions to the party increased in 2003, and the Freedom Party won more votes that it ever had in its history - it received 8,376 votes or 0.2% of all votes cast in the province. It ran candidates in 23 of the provinces 103 ridings with individual results ranging from a low of 0.29% to a high of 1.54%.

The party is affiliated with the Freedom Party of Canada (founded by Paul McKeever and Robert Metz on July 20, 2001).

Free-Speech Controversy

Throughout its existence, the Freedom Party has taken a libertarian position on issues involving free speech and free expression. The party opposes all government restriction of either right, except in instances of defamation. While a member of the Freedom Party, Marc Emery routinely challenged Canada's censorship laws through the private bookstore he ran in London, Ontario. More recently, the Freedom Party's position on this issue has brought allegations of complicity with far-right groups, and particularly with supporters of holocaust denier Ernst Zündel.

During its early years, the Freedom Party opposed section 177 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which made it a criminal offence to publish false statements. Although section 177 was rarely used, the government charged Zündel under that section in the 1980s for publishing false statements about the number of people killed in Germany's holocaust. At trial, Zündel was convicted. Because of its opposition to a law against the spreading of false news, the conviction appeared in a Freedom Party calendar as a "Dark Day in Individual Freedom".[1] (http://www.freedomparty.org/calendar/cal_may.htm). Zündel challenged his conviction on the ground that section 177 unconstitutionally limited his freedom of expression. The Supreme Court of Canada agreed, and struck the "false news" provision of the Criminal Code, declaring it unconstitutional and a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The Freedom Party became involved in a related controversy in 1999, after Raphael Bergmann and Tyler Chilcott of London, Ontario received a letter from the city's police force. The letter alleged that the two men were members of a group called the Northern Alliance which was described as holding "extreme right wing beliefs". The letter "required" the two men to appear at police headquarters and clarify their beliefs (the full text of the document may be read at [2] (http://www.freedomparty.on.ca/images/freedomflyer/ff34_01.jpg)). The recipients of this letter refused to comply, and went to the headquarters of the London-based Freedom Party to speak with Robert Metz. As the two men were not charged with anything, Metz decided to take up their cause as a "free speech" issue. Lloyd Walker, then leader of the FPO, requested that Ontario Solicitor General David Tsubouchi provide a list of "extreme" political beliefs that could result in such police action. Nothing more came of the matter. The Freedom Party's account of the situation may be viewed online ([3] (http://www.freedomparty.on.ca/freedomflyer/ff34.htm#table)).

An on-line article about Raphael Bergmann contains the following passage:

"It should be noted that (according to Bergmann) Robert Metz invited him to meet with representatives of the MacGregor Society, a group that Bergmann referred to as a "secret society" of "conservative old-boys" interested in providing financial assistance for [his] civil suit. However, this has not been confirmed."[4] (http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:drKz-9X2TG4J:www.antiracistaction.ca/bergmann.html+%22Raphael+Bergmann%22&hl=en)

In 1999, there were serious doubts as to whether the "Northern Alliance" was a formal organization. These doubts no longer remain. The group now operates a website, and claims to be "dedicated to the protection and advancement of the rights of Canadians of European descent", opposing "non-white and third world" immigration. The Northern Alliance has also taken part in rallies supporting Ernst Zündel in recent years. Few now doubt that the group is, and always was, a racist and white supremacist organization.

There is no evidence, however, that any Freedom Party members agree with the messages propagated by the Northern Alliance, nor that any members of the party endorse the beliefs propogated by Zündel. When questioned, party leaders have repeatedly condemned racism in all forms.

Other Controversies

Other connections between the Freedom Party and far-right groups have also been reported.

Paul Fromm, a well-known figure on Canada's far-right, has reported that members of the Freedom Party attended a 2003 rally in support of Ernst Zündel, which was also attended by members of the Northern Alliance, the Heritage Front and other far-right groups.[5] (http://www.zundelsite.org/zundel_persecuted/june2_zgram.html) In 1999, Fromm donated the sum of $360.00 to the campaign of Freedom Party candidate Paul Blair.

On June 25, 2000, Raphael Bergmann held a "straight pride" parade in Toronto as a hostile response to the province's "gay pride" parades. Blair, a member of the Freedom Party executive, attended this event to hand out party brochures. According to Paul Gallant, features editor for Xtra! magazine, Blair claimed that a "little stroking, a little touching" at a young age could result in men becoming homosexual.[6] (http://www.xtra.ca/site/toronto2/arch/body568.shtm)

Separate from the Northern Alliance controversy, some former members of a now-defunct anti-multiculturalism group called Voice of Canadians have also affiliated with the Freedom Party. In late 1995, Robert Metz spoke at a dinner in Burlington, Ontario which brought about the merger of Craig Chandler's Progressive Group for Independent Business with Voice of Canadians. Several Voice of Canadians articles were also published in the Freedom Party's newsletter.

Vaughan Byrnes, a Voice of Canadians member who ran for the Freedom Party in the 2003 election, once described Canada's immigration, multiculturalism and employment equity policies of the 1990s as "genocidal for Canadians".[7] (http://www.freedomparty.org/consent/cons25_4.htm) Former Voice of Canadians chair Dick Field has also campaigned as a Freedom Party candidate.

Recent election results

Election Candidates elected Total votes % of popular vote
1985 - 1,583 -
1987 - 4,735 -
1990 - 6,015 0.2%
1995 - 4,532 0.1%
1999 - 4,806 0.1%
2003 - 8,376 0.2%

Party leaders

(Note: The party did not have an official leader from 1984 to 1987. Robert Metz was its president during this period. Lloyd Walker was initially chosen as leader on an interim basis.)

See also

External links

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