While Canada prepares to head to the polls in a couple of weeks for a national election, a number of small and frequently off-beat political parties are working hard to get their share of attention.
The Rhinoceros Party, technically the “New” Rhinoceros Party, has about a dozen candidates it plans to field… primarily in French-speaking Quebec. The comical party is named for Cacareco, a Brazilian rhinoceros who was elected to São Paulo’s city council in 1958. The Canadian Party claims Cornelius the First, a rhinoceros from the Granby Zoo, east of Montreal, as its leader.
The Pirate Party of Canada also claims 12 candidates for parliament in the 2011 election cycle, though they seem to be approaching the election more seriously than you’d expect based on their party name. Founded in 2009 and officially registered in 2010, the Pirate Party of Canada “strives to reform Canadian information laws to meet the needs of the new century.”
Meanwhile, the Western Block Party seeks to promote the independence of Western Canada (i.e., the provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba) from the rest of nation. They’re running four candidates this time, but don’t expect to see a free and independent nation of West Canada any time soon. None of the party’s candidates for parliament have ever topped 1% of the vote in their races since the party was created in 2005.
And the First Peoples National Party of Canada, which sounds like a bank but is apparently a one-man-band advocating for the rights of native people.
From their website:
One of Canada’s newest political parties the First Peoples National Party of Canada, (FPNP) is an all people’s party putting people first, all peoples from all cultures.
Don’t let the party name confuse you; the FPNP is inspired by First Nations history, culture and values, which form the guiding principles of our party. Our primary value is that of sharing and we are open to membership and candidates from all cultures.
The FPNP logo is a Medicine Wheel on a Turtles back which represents all cultures of world that now live here on Turtle Island / North America.
The Canadian Communists are running about 20 candidates this time around. It’ll be interesting to see if they get a little bump from the miserable economic situation that’s impacted just about everyone over the past few years.
There’s also the Marijuana Party, which has fallen off significantly since the early 2000’s when they were frequently running candidates for dozens of seats.
Canadian voters will head to the polls on May 2nd.
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