Rhinoceros Party

Rhinoceros Party
Parti Rhinocéros
Active federal party
Leader	François Gourd^[1]
Founded	May 21, 2006
Headquarters	2–4534, de l’Hôtel-de-Ville Avenue Montréal, Quebec H2T 2B1
Ideology	Satirical, Joke political party
Colours	Red, white
Seats in the House of Commons	0 / 308
Website
Official website
Politics of Canada Political parties Elections

The Rhinoceros Party (French: Parti Rhinocéros) is a Canadian federal political party, referred to in English Canada as the Second Rhinoceros Party. It was known as neorhino.ca until 2010, when the party changed names and registered a new party logo. It was created in Montreal on May 21, 2006, and recognized by Elections Canada as being eligible for registration on August 16, 2007, and an official political party on August 23, 2007.^[2] It is the successor to the Rhinoceros Party of Canada.

The party was founded by François "Yo" Gourd, who was involved with the original incarnation of the First Rhinoceros Party. He stated he named the new party (then under the name "neorhino") for the Rhinoceros Party and for Neo, the Matrix character.^[3] The party is currently led by François Gourd.

It promises, like its predecessor, not to keep any of its promises if elected.^[4]

Origins

The Rhino movement was started in 1963 by Jacques Ferron,^[5] "Éminence de la Grande Corne du parti Rhinocéros". In the 1970s, a group of artists joined the party and created a comedic political platform to contest the federal election. Ferron (1979), poet Gaston Miron (1972) and singer Michel Rivard (1980) ran against then Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in his Montreal seat.

The party claimed to be the spiritual descendants of Cacareco, a Brazilian rhinoceros who was elected member of São Paulo's city council in 1958, and listed Cornelius the First, a rhinoceros from the Granby Zoo, east of Montreal, as its leader.^[6] Cornelius is still featured in the party's official logo. It declared that the rhinoceros was an appropriate symbol for a political party since politicians, by nature, are "thick-skinned, slow-moving, dim-witted, can move fast as hell when in danger, and have large, hairy horns growing out of the middle of their faces."^[7]

The party abstained from the 1993 federal election as they questioned the constitutionality of new rules that required the party to run candidates in at least 50 ridings at a cost of $1,000 per candidature.^[8] On September 23, 1993, Canada's Chief Electoral Officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, refused to accept the party's abstention and ordered the removal of the Rhinoceros Party from the Registry of Canadian Political Parties, effectively eliminating them from the Canadian political system. Kingsley also directed the party's official agent, Charlie (le Concierge) McKenzie, to liquidate all party assets and return any revenues to the Receiver General of Canada. On instructions from the party, McKenzie refused. After two years of threatening letters, Ottawa refused to prosecute McKenzie. Within the following year, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada (1963–1993) dissolved.

Platform

In the interest of satire and parody, Rhino platform and policy would often model, mock or implicitly reference that of other parties.

The Liberal Party of Canada of the 1970s performed well in Central Canada and poorly in the west; when John Turner became party leader, he ran in Vancouver Quadra in an attempt to reverse this trend. The Rhinoceros Party's response was to run its own John Turner (different candidate, same name) in Vancouver Quadra.

In Kingston and the Islands, the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada ran Flora MacDonald as local candidate for many years; the Rhino Party responded by campaigning on a slogan of "fauna, not flora" in the riding.

At a time when Dr. Henry Morgentaler and Canada's criminalisation of abortion were topical issues, Rhino candidate "Ted (not so) Sharp" took a firm stand: "If elected, I shall never have an abortion." He proved true to his word.

Various platform planks appeared as recurring themes. If elected, the Rhinoceros Party of Canada will:

Repeal the law of gravity
Promote higher education by building taller schools
Count the Thousand Islands to make sure the Americans didn’t steal any^[9]
Reform the retail lottery scheme by replacing cash prizes with Senate appointments
Seat the Queen of Canada in Buckingham, Quebec.

Neorhino.ca

On August 7, 2007, Brian Salmi, then-president of the Rhinoceros Party, announced a $50-million lawsuit contesting an election reform law that had stripped his party of its registered status in 1993.

Legally changing his name to Satan, he had planned to run under the Rhino banner in the September 2007 by-election. However, a previous law in 1993 stating registered parties must run candidates in at least 50 ridings, at a cost of $1,000 per riding, to keep their status. In protest of the new law, the party planned to abstain from the election. Canada's then-Chief Electoral Officer, Jean-Pierre Kingsley, rejected the abstention and ordered the party removed from the Registry of Canadian Political Parties. The lawsuit was filed as a result of the removal from the National Party Registry by Mr. Kingsley. Since Mr. Salmi had legally changed his name, the lawsuit was filed as Satan vs. Her Majesty The Queen. The lawsuit was dropped after the ruling of the Chief Electoral Officer was reversed in a new law passed in 2004 that said a party only had to run one candidate in a federal election or federal by-election to be considered registered.^[4]

Electoral record

To date, candidates of Neorhino.ca and the Rhinoceros Party have not recorded any electoral victories. Before the Neorhino.ca candidates that stood for the ridings of Outremont and Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot in the 2007 federal by-elections, Neorhino.ca and the Rhinoceros Party before them had not fielded a candidate since Bryan Gold's failed bid to win a 1990 by-election in the New Brunswick electoral district of Beauséjour.

Neorhino.ca candidates did not win any seats in the 2007 by-elections,the 2008 federal election, or the 2011 federal election.

2007/2008 by-elections

Candidate	Votes	%	Placement	District	Date
François Gourd	145	0.6	6/12	Outremont	September 17, 2007
Christian Willie Vanasse	384	1.2	6/7	Saint-Hyacinthe—Bagot	September 17, 2007
John Turner	111	0.4	5/6	Vancouver Quadra	March 17, 2008

2008 federal election

Election	# of candidates	# of votes	% of popular vote	% in ridings run	# of seats
2008	7	2,263	0.02%	0.67%	0

2009 by-elections

Candidate	Votes	%	Placement	District	Date
Gabrielle Anctil	129	0.7	6/8	Hochelaga	November 9, 2009