Cynthia Cheng

WATCH THIS SPACE FOR ELECTION AN ELECTION WRAP-UP!

The Canadian election is Tuesday, October 14, the day after Thanksgiving. Historically, the two major parties were the Liberal Party of Canada and the Conservatives (which at one time were called the Progressive Conservatives).  In the past few decades, the New Democratic Party, which is further left than the Liberals, has joined into the mainstream.  Of course, there are niche parties as well, such as the Bloc Quebecois (separatist party representing issues of Quebec), and more recently the Green Party of Canada (environmental issues), which has finally joined the mainstream parties and the Bloc Quebecois in the debates this year. But what about the other parties?  Most ridings (districts) have candidates who are not representing any of the parties mentioned.  What are their views and why do they exist?  Here are a few fringe parties and what they represent:

The Marijuana Party: Yes, you’ve guessed it.  Their sole objective of existing is to officially end the prohibition of marijuana in Canada and to discuss pot-related issues.

The Christian Heritage Party: A party that believes that the Word of God should be above any laws humans create and that these laws should not be contrary to Biblical ethics.

The Progressive Canadian Party: Created by former Progressive Conservative Party members after  the their merger with the Canadian Alliance.  This centre/slightly right of centre party’s philosophy believes in preserving what is already good, while at the same time, having the “ability to improve.”

There are plenty of other fringe parties which exist or have existed in the past. However, the lack of funding and the fact that in general, people seem to prefer things they’re more comfortable with things they’re used to makes it difficult for them to get support.  Even the advent of social networking sites haven’t really helped many of these parties – The Progressive Canadian Party, for example has fewer than 250 people in all three of their Facebook groups combined.  Compare that to the Green Party of Canada (over 7,500 in one of their Facebook groups alone), which has, until recently, been seen as fringe party.

Image by Radiant Byte (calvio).  The image is an exclusive to iStockphoto