Canadians' Choice Party Explained

Canadians' Choice Party
Abbreviation:CCP
Colorcode:
  1. 000000
Leader:Bahman Yazdanfar
President:Bahman Yazdanfar[1]
Founded:August 26, 2011
Ideology:Direct democracy
Headquarters:1-927 Danforth Ave, Toronto ON M4J 1L8[2]
Country:Canada
Subheader:Active provincial party
Blank1 Title:Fiscal policy
Blank2 Title:Social policy
Seats1 Title:Seats in the House of Commons
Seats2 Title:Seats in the Senate
Seats3 Title:Seats in Legislature
State:Ontario
Parties Dab1:List of political parties in Ontario
Elections Dab1:List of Ontario general elections

The Canadians′ Choice Party (CCP) is a minor political party based in Ontario, Canada. The party is led by Bahman Yazdanfar.[2]

History

The Canadians' Choice Party was founded on August 26, 2011 by Bahman Yazdanfar of Toronto.[3] Yazdanfar, who immigrated to Canada from Iran in 1986, ran a small consulting firm for businesses until 2008, when the global economic recession caused him to close.[4] After the failure of his business, Yazdanfar began a talk show on YouTube which interviewed subjects ranging from mainstream local figures to political extremists.[4]

In 2015, in response to public outcry over Your Ward News, a local newspaper delivered to households in The Beaches that was banned by Canada Post for carrying anti-Semitic and racist content, Yazdanfar supported the publication, buying advertising in it and decrying the Ontario government's laying of criminal charges against the publication's publisher and editor for hate speech.[3]

The party failed to win any seats in the 2022 Ontario general election.

Platform

The party bills itself as a "party of independents" and offers very few barriers for entry.[5] To run as a candidate for the party, a candidate has to:

On its website, the party supports four priorities:[6]

It also calls for the ability to recall elected officials and calls for more referendums.[6]

Controversy and associations with Neo-Nazism

The party's position on unfettered free speech has caused controversy in the 2018 provincial election when several of its candidates were found to be associated with the neo-Nazi movement in Canada. James Sears, who ran in the riding of Ottawa Centre, is the editor of the far-right newspaper, Your Ward News, and claims to be an adherent of Nazism.[7] [8] Another of the party's notable candidates is Paul Fromm, a prominent Canadian white supremacist, who ran in Etobicoke Centre.

Electoral results

In the 2011 Ontario general election, the Canadians' Choice Party nominated three candidates for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

RidingCandidate's NameNotesVotes%Rank
Toronto CentreBahman YazdanfarParty Leader 19 0.04% 10/10
St. CatharinesJon Radick62 0.14% 7/8
Toronto—DanforthJohn Richardson750.2% 9/9

In the 2014 election, Yazdanfar and Richardson ran again, this time joined by Dorian Baxter, perennial candidate for the Progressive Canadian Party.

RidingCandidate's NameNotesVotes%Rank
Toronto CentreBahman YazdanfarParty Leader 78 0.15% 11/11
Scarborough—GuildwoodJohn Sawdon120 0.34% 7/7
Newmarket—AuroraDorian Baxter9221.76%5/7
Toronto—DanforthJohn Richardson1670.4% 7/10

In the 2018 election, the party ran five candidates:

RidingCandidate's NameNotesVotes%Rank
Beaches—East YorkBahman YazdanfarParty Leader 740.14% 9/11
Barrie—InnisfilJake Tucker1840.42% 6/8
Brantford—BrantLeslie Bory2530.44% 8/9
Etobicoke CentrePaul Fromm631 1.10% 5/7
Ottawa CentreJames Sears920.14% 8/8

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Registered Political Parties . . 23 July 2023.
  2. Web site: Registered Political Parties in Ontario . 2018-05-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181126005627/https://www.elections.on.ca/en/political-entities-in-ontario/political-parties/registered-political-parties-in-ontario.html . 2018-11-26 . dead .
  3. Web site: Submit your nomination, before fundraising, and accepting donations.. www.canadianschoice.ca. 2018-05-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20180518200548/http://www.canadianschoice.ca/BY_Writings.html. 2018-05-18. dead.
  4. Web site: Bahman Yazdanfar. www.canadianschoice.ca. 2018-05-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20180518200051/http://www.canadianschoice.ca/Bahman-Yazdanfar.html. 2018-05-18. dead.
  5. News: Fringe parties add spice to Ontario election despite no hope of seats. 2011-10-06. CityNews Toronto. 2018-05-21. en-US.
  6. Web site: Get voters throughout your riding, and persuade them to vote for you.. www.canadianschoice.ca. 2018-05-21. https://web.archive.org/web/20180522231911/http://www.canadianschoice.ca/CCP_Platform.html. 2018-05-22. dead.
  7. News: Ottawa Centre candidates set to square off at community debate. Delamont. Kieran. 2018-05-17. Ottawa Citizen. 2018-05-21. en-US.
  8. News: Hate crime charge hangs over Ottawa Centre candidate. Crawford. Blair. 2018-05-10. Ottawa Citizen. 2018-05-21. en-US.