Jack Plant

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Jack Plant is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a longtime member of the Ontario Freedom Party, and served as its leader from 1994 to 1997.

Plant was raised in London, Ontario, and works as a firefighter is addition to his political career. He joined the Freedom Party via an association with founder Robert Metz. Like many others in the Freedom Party, Plant is a vocal proponent of individual rights and property rights, and an opponent of unionization and government management. He is also a follower of Ayn Rand's philosophy.

Shortly before becoming Freedom Party leader, he claimed that government oversight of "pensions, education, healthcare, welfare, transportation, culture and energy production" was a failure, and had brought Canadian society to the brink of collapse.[1] He also claimed that his party's ideas were similar to those of the Reform Party of Canada, and the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario under Mike Harris.

Plant became leader of the Freedom Party in mid-1994 and led the party through the 1995 provincial election, challenging future provincial cabinet minister Dianne Cunningham in London North. He received 334 votes, for a distant sixth place finish. It will be noted that the Freedom Party is a fairly small organization within Ontario.

Plant resigned as leader in 1997, but has remained among the party's most vocal supporters since that time. As of 1997, he is no longer a member of the party's provincial executive.

In the late 1990s, Plant was involved in a public controversy involving reported connections between the Freedom Party and Canada's far-right network. (See the Lloyd Walker page for further details). Although he has repeatedly condemned racism and Nazism, Plant has also opposed any efforts by the state to restrict the "free expression" of ideas from far-right groups.