New Reform Party of Ontario

New Reform Party of Ontario
Leader Eric Ames
President Lynne Scime
Founded 1987
Headquarters Hamilton, Ontario
Ideology Social Conservatism, Populism, Grassroots Democracy, Fiscal Conservatism, Localism
Colours Blue, Green
Seats in Legislature
0 / 107
Website
newreform.ca
Politics of Ontario
Political parties
Elections

The New Reform Party of Ontario is a minor provincial political party in Ontario, Canada that promotes a populist and socially conservative ideology. It was originally formed in 1987 as the Family Coalition Party of Ontario (FCP)[1] by pro-life Liberal members from the Liberals for Life splinter group and members of the pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition, and has fielded candidates in every provincial election since then. None of its candidates have ever been elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.

History

Logo of the Family Coalition Party prior to the 2015 renaming

The first leader of the Family Coalition Party was Donald Pennell, who had been a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the Burlington South riding during the 1975 provincial election. He served as FCP leader from 1987 to 1997. Pennell campaigned for the Canadian Alliance in the Burlington riding during the 2000 federal election.

Pennell was replaced by Giuseppe Gori, who led the party from 1997 to October 2009, later renamed the party Ontario Coalition. A leadership convention was held in Hamilton on October 24, 2009, to elect a new leader. Phil Lees was elected by acclamation and filled the role until January 2014.[2]

Eric Ames held the post of interim leader, from January to November 2014, when James Gault was acclaimed at the 2014 annual general meeting in Burlington at the Crossroads Forum, as Ames remain the director of communications and deputy leader.

The party's strongest showing to date was in the 1990 provincial election, when it received over 100,000 votes. In 1990, several candidates received over 10% of the popular vote (the best was 13%), but the party ran only 76 candidates. Its strong support declined drastically in the 1995 and 1999 elections, followed by a modest recovery in 2003 when it ran in 51 out of 103 ridings. The party nominated 83 candidates in the 107 ridings for the 2007 provincial election, in those 83 ridings, it obtained 1.045% of the votes, or 0.82% province-wide.

During the 1999 election, the party achieved a limited media attention by conducting a demonstration at Queen's Park featuring three "cloned sheep" to represent Progressive Conservative leader Mike Harris, Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty and New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton. The FCP's intent was both to indicate their opposition to cloning technology, and to suggest that the major parties were identical in ignoring family issues, while showing the old mantra "Liberal, Tory, NDP same old status quo story."

Since the 2011 provincial election, the FCP worked on local advocacy campaigns within various communities around the province, most notably involving the challenge of the controversial[3] Bill 13 anti-bullying legislation [4] presented by the Ontario Liberal Party. FCP leader Phil Lees was a speaker at two Queen’s Park Bill 13 protest rallies in early 2012.[5][6] The FCP stated in 2014 that it intends to become more active and visible between elections, to better represent what it calls the “traditional-principled” electorate in Ontario, which led it to merge closer towards a grassroots participatory democratic political ideology held traditionally by Reformers in Ontario.[7]

The party changed its name to the New Reform Party of Ontario in 2015 and began the process to overhaul its principles, policies, and platform toward the Reform ideological position in Ontario.[1]

Ideology

New Reform's principles include respect for life, freedom and ownership of property. They emphasize "the family, rather than the individual" as the "basic building block of our society",[8] and asserts that the promotion of stronger family units will result in reduced social problems and a more robust workforce. The party's emphasis on the family unit favours heterosexual married couples: it opposes spousal benefits for both same-sex couples and common-law heterosexual couples. New Reform supports increasing personal and spousal tax exemption, as well as providing assistance to single mothers who choose to carry a pregnancy to term. It also recognizes "the work of mothers in the nurturing of children", and supports increased tax benefits for stay-at-home parents. On education, New Reform favours options for families to choose the form of education that best suits their values and needs,[9] and the protection of parental values in the school setting.

The party's ideals on various matters are generally traditional, being fiscal, social, and libertarian conservative in tone, although not universally so. New Reform supports a reduction in the size of government, as well as "the long-term removal of all measures that insulate industries, businesses, financial institutions, professions and trade unions from domestic and foreign competition". New Reform recognizes that the limited government has a reduced role to play in issues relating to environmental, educational, and health care management, and ensuring access to health services regardless of ability to pay.

New Reform also supports voter recall, referenda, and responsible electoral financing reform for a freer and fair vote for all citizens of the Province of Ontario.

Election results

Year of election # of candidates # of seats won # of votes % of popular vote
1987 36 0 48,110 1.3%
1990 68 0 110,831 2.7%
1995 55 0 61,657 1.5%
1999 37 0 24,216 0.6%
2003 51 0 34,623 0.8%
2007 83 0 35,763 0.8%
2011 31 0 9,861 0.23%

Party leaders

Donald Pennell (1987-1997)

Donald Pennell is a political and religious activist in Ontario. He was the first leader of the Family Coalition Party, helming the party during the 1987, 1990, and 1995 campaigns, and has campaigned for political office at various levels, originally for the Liberals.

He first ran for political office in the 1975 provincial election, as a Liberal Party candidate in Burlington South. He lost to Progressive Conservative incumbent George Albert Kerr by just under 6,000 votes.

Pennell was a leading figure in founding the Family Coalition Party in 1987. This group began as a political extension of the pro-life organization Campaign Life Coalition with pro-life Liberal members from the splinter group Liberals for Life. Pennell was chosen as the FCP's first interim leader, and then full-time. In addition to promoting a pro-life position on abortion the party developed a platform opposed to divorce, euthanasia, same-sex marriage and adoption of children by same-sex couples, embryonic stem cell research, in vitro fertilization, pornography, and contraception.

In the 1995 provincial election, Pennell ran against sitting Ontario Premier Bob Rae in the Toronto riding of York South. After a very distant fourth place finish, Pennell stepped down as leader of the party in 1997, and was replaced by Giuseppe Gori.

In the 2000 federal election, Pennell ran as a candidate of the Canadian Alliance in Burlington. Some political observers expressed surprise that the former leader of a minor provincial political party would be allowed to stand for Canada's official opposition. Pennell received a career high of 11,500 votes, but still finished almost 11,000 votes behind the winner, Liberal incumbent Paddy Torsney. Ironically, Torsney had worked as a volunteer on Pennell's 1975 campaign, his first as a Liberal.

He remained an advisor to the party after 1997, and helped select the party's candidates for the 1999 provincial election, as well as involved in a number of conservative Roman Catholic organizations. He now lives in Vineland, Ontario, and works as the communications and public relations director of the Fatima Centre, a devotional group based around the miracles said to have occurred near Fátima, Portugal in the early twentieth century. In 2004, Pennell criticized a Hindu group for conducting a devotional service on the shrine grounds.

Giuseppe Gori (1997-2009)

Giuseppe Gori is a businessman and a politician in Ontario. From 1997 to 2009, he was the leader of the Family Coalition Party, piloting the party during the 1999, 2003, and 2007 campaigns.[10]

Gori has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pisa in Italy (1973). He worked as an Assistant Professor at Pisa for three years, and has also been a visiting professor at the University of Western Ontario. In the 1980s Gori has held positions at IBM, Canada Systems Group and Geac Computer Corporation.

Gori replaced Donald Pennell as leader of the FCP in 1997. Like other members of his party, he is pro-life (from conception to natural death), and supports what he describes as "traditional family values". Gori would change the party name from Family Coalition Party to Ontario Coalition during his tenure. Gori did not run in the October 2009 leadership election, to dedicate more time to his manufacturing business, he was succeeded as party leader by Phil Lees.

Phil Lees (2009-2014)

Phil Lees is an educator by profession. From 2009 to 2014, he was the leader of the Family Coalition Party, representing the party during the 2011 campaign. During the course of his career, he became cognizant of what he describes as a "radical change in values being encouraged by the teachers union", he became involved in grassroots activism following an incident with his own child. Her 5th grade class had been shown a film titled Head Full of Questions, this film depicted adult sexual intercourse and provided an understanding of homosexuality, he founded a group called the Hamilton-Wentworth Family Action Council to address the issues at local schools. He also ran for office in the 1999 election.[11]

Eric Ames (2014) (interim)

Eric Ames is a former educator and communications professional, Ames had served since 2001 as the FCP Communications Director. As interim leader of the Family Coalition Party, Eric led the party during the 2014 campaign, doing well for the party in a caretaking role.

James Gault (2014 - present)

James Gault was acclaimed at the 2014 annual general meeting in Burlington at the Crossroads Forum, ran for the FCP in the 1995 election, while Ames remain the director of communications and deputy leader.

Electoral record

(See Elections Ontario results at: http://www.elections.on.ca/en-CA/Tools/PastResults.htm)

Election candidates

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "What people are asking about the New Reform Party of Ontario". New Reform Party of Ontario. Retrieved 13 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Elections Ontario
  3. ↑ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/anti-bullying-bill-passes-clearing-way-for-gay-straight-alliances-in-ontario-schools/article4231542/
  4. ↑ http://ontla.on.ca/web/bills/bills_detail.do?locale=en&BillID=2549
  5. ↑ http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/boisterous-ethnically-diverse-crowd-at-ontario-legislature-demands-bill-13/
  6. ↑ http://www.citytv.com/toronto/citynews/news/local/article/208225
  7. ↑ http://www.familycoalitionparty.com/07_Application/14_Campaign.php?Campaign_ID=8
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ http://eedition.westniagaranews.ca/doc/West-Niagara-News/wnn/2011092901/5.html#4
  10. ↑ Deborah Gyapong (17 September 2007). "Referendum on changing voting system divides pro-lifers". Canadian Catholic News. Retrieved 14 June 2011. Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
  11. ↑ http://www.theinterim.com/features/q-a-with-fcp-leader-phil-lees
  12. ↑ Tallyn, Lisa (October 12, 2007). "Longtime Conservative rolls to easy victory in Wellington-Halton". Inside Halton. Retrieved 14 June 2011. Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)

External links