Canada’s 73 Marijuana Party candidates are celebrating across the country as the November 27 election results vindicated their campaign efforts. Marijuana Party candidates established themselves as a viable alternative to the Green Party, and solidly out performed other “fringe” parties like the Canadian Action Party, Natural Law and Communists.
Party leader Marc-Boris St Maurice received 2156 votes (5% of the total) in his Quebec riding of Laurier-Sainte-Marie, beating the NDP, PC and Alliance candidates, and coming within 14 votes of the Green Party. Nine other Quebec candidates also beat out the NDP, and the Marijuana Party also outperformed the Greens in a half-dozen ridings. Marijuana Party candidates outranked Canadian Action Party in every riding they both ran, and soldily outdid the Natural Law and Communist parties, achieving 8-20 times their vote totals. Except for Dana Larsen in West Vancouver – Sunshine Coast, the top ten ranked candidates were all located in Quebec.
Candidates generally received 3-4% of the vote, typically ranging from 700-1200 votes per riding, with a low of 387 votes and a high of 2156.
“I am very happy with these election results,” said Western Party Coordinator Marc Emery. “Now we must continue our political uprising. We will form provincial and municipal Marijuana Parties, and the BC Marijuana Party is now getting underway and preparing for a Spring election. We will form federal constituency associations and advocate for local pot culture. We are the political representatives of Canada’s cannabis culture, and we have a reponsibility towards the thousands who did vote for us.”
See below for a list of how all candidates did.
Worldwide pot parties
Canada’s Marijuana Party is one of many new political pot-parties that have formed around the world.
In England it’s called the UK Legalize Cannabis Alliance. In New Zealand, it’s called the Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party. In Israel it’s the Green Leaf Party. In the Australian states of New South Wales, South Australia and Victoria it’s the HEMP Party. In New York it’s the Marijuana Reform Party, and in New Jersey it’s the Legalize Marijuana Party. Everywhere it is the same phenomenon – marijuana activists lifting themselves from beneath the jack-boot of oppression and carrying their joints like torches of freedom into federal elections.
The torch of Canada’s Marijuana Party was sparked by the efforts of Marc-Boris St-Maurice, who founded Quebec’s Bloc Pot. The Bloc Pot won over 10,000 votes in Quebec’s 1998 election, enough to get them some government subsidies for their future campaigns. Through the efforts of countless other activists and supporters nationwide, the Marijuana Party took shape.
Marc Emery plans to continue raising marijuana awareness in the upcoming BC provincial elections, by the formation of the BC Marijuana Party. Having honed their skills in federal race, the provincial candidates should have a vivid presence in BC’s spring election.
* Canadian Marijuana Party National Headquarters: (514) 528-1768; [email protected]; website http://www.marijuanaparty.org;
* Canadian Marijuana Party Western Headquarters: (604) 684-7076; email [email protected]
* Bloc Pot: tel (514) 528-1768; CP 361, succ. “C”, Montreal, Quebec, H2L 4K3; email [email protected]; website www.blocpot.qc.ca
* UK Legalize Cannabis Alliance: PO Box 198, Norwich NR2 2DE; tel 01-603-442-215, email [email protected]
* Aotearoa Legalize Cannabis Party: PO Box 27-315 Wellington, New Zealand; tel 04-934-9389; email ; website www.alcp.org.nz
* Israel’s Green Leaf Party: Ale Yarok Party, POB 1454, Even-yehuda, Israel 40500; tel 972-52-451-451; website www.ale-yarok.org.il
* Australia HEMP Party: email [email protected]; website www.green.net.au/hempvic
* New Jersey Legalize Marijuana Party: Ed Forchion, PO Box 444, Browns Mills, NJ 08015; tel (609) 893-1893; email [email protected]; website www.tlmp.org
* New York Marijuana Reform Party: Tom Leighton, PO Box 20420 DHCC, New York, NY 10017; tel (212) 439-4860; website www.marijuanareform.org
Alan Ward 387 – 1% – Mississauga Centre
Alex N?ron 1247 – 3% – Hochelaga- Maisonneuve (Beat NDP)
Andrew Potter 410 – 1% – St. Paul’s
Antoine Th?or?t-Poupart 889 – 2% – Papineau-Saint-Denis
Aubert Martins 879 – 2% – Hull-Aylmer
Black Blackburn 900 – 2% – Bas-Richelieu-Nicolet-B?cancour
Brad Powers 783 – 1% – Ottawa Centre
Bruce Watson 683 – 2% – Beaches-East York
Claude Messier 1470 – 3% – Rosemont-Petite Patrie (Beat Green, NDP and Alliance)
Chris Buors 640 – 2% – Winnipeg South Centre
Christian Lajoie 892 – 2% – Laval-Est
Chuck Beyer 862 – 1% – Victoria
Craig James Michael McMillan 689 – 2% – Oshawa
Dan Loehndorf 887 – 2% – Kootenay-Boundary-Okanagan
Dana Larsen 1649 – 3% – West Vancouver Sunshine Coast
Danielle Keir 437 – 1% – Hamilton West
David Fiset 968 – 2% – Longueuil
David Malmo-Levine 778 – 2% – Vancouver East
Denis Carri?re 581 – 2% Thunder Bay-Superior North
Donald Lavallee 1117 – 2% – Nanaimo Alberni
Elena d’Apollonia 1041 – 2% – Lac-Saint-Louis
Elmer Gale 473 – 2% – Davenport
Eric Duquette 936 – 2% – Mercier
G. Marcello Marchetti 539 – 2% – York West
Grant Adam Krieger 1223 – 4% – Calgary East
Greg Stock 469 – 1% – Don Valley West
Gr?goire Faber 895 – 2% – Notre-Dame-de-Gr?ce-Lachine
Huguette Plourde 1009 – 3% – Outremont
Jean-Fran?ois Labrecque 1149 – 2% – Pierrefonds-Dollard
Jim King 668 – 2% – Kings-Hants (NS)
Jim Wood 461 – 1% – Saint John (NB)
John Albert 534 – 1% – Ottawa-Orl?ans
Jonathan B?rub? 1530 – 3% – Verch?res-Les Patriotes (Beat NDP)
Karina N?ron 635 – 1% – Saint-L?onard-Saint-Michel
Katherine L?veill? 1377 – 3% – Saint-Lambert
Ken Kirk 729 – 1% – Edmonton-Strathcona
Lise Dufour 1996 – 3% – Repentigny (Beat NDP)
Marc-Andr? Roy 927 – 2% – Saint-Maurice
Marc-Boris St-Maurice 2156 – 5% – Laurier-Sainte-Marie (Beat NDP, Conservative and Alliance)
Marc Emery 1045 – 2% – Vancouver Center
Mary?ve Daigle 1546 – 3% – Saint-Bruno-Saint-Hubert (Beat NDP)
Mathieu Giroux 1374 – 3% -Beauport-Montmorency-C?te-de-Beaupr?-?le-d’Orl?ans (Beat NDP)
Mathieux St-Cyr 765 – 2% – LaSalle-?mard
Mavis Louise Becker 561 – 1% – South Surrey White Rock Langley
Meaghan Walker-Williams 1258 – 2% – Nanaimo Cowichan (Beat Green)
Melanie Patriquen 658 – 2% – Sackville-Musquodoboit Valley-Eastern Shore
Michael Baldasaro 573 – 2% – Hamilton East
Mike Patriquen 623 – 2% – Halifax
Neev Tapiero 722 – 2% – Toronto Centre-Rosedale
Nicolas Cousineau 824 – 2% – Shefford
Norm Siefken 770 – 2% – Fraser Valley
Normand N?ron 942 – 2% – Anjou-Rivi?re-des-Prairies
Paul Coulbeck 1093 – 3% – Scarborough Centre
Paul Geddes 799 – 1% – Port Moody-Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam
Patrice Caron 678 – 2% – Westmount-Ville-Marie
Paul Giroux 1021 – 2% – Champlain
Paul Lewin 640 – 2% – Trinity-Spadina
Pierre Audette 934 – 2% – Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel
Pierre-E. Parades 1449 – 3% – Qu?bec
Pierre Luc Fournier 698 – 2% – Frontenac-M?gantic
Raymond Turmel 715 – 2% – Ottawa-Vanier
Reginald Normore 467 – 1% – Athabasca (AB)
Ron Whalen 699 – 1% – Ottawa South
Sean Keir 516 – 1% – Toronto-Danforth
S?bastien Duclos 1761 – 3% – Chambly (Beat NDP)
S?bastien H?nault 1458 – 3% – Berthier-Montcalm
Sotos Petrides 423 – 1% – Ottawa West-Nepean
Stanley Sambey 755 – 2% – Renfrew-Nipissing-Pembroke
Teresa Taylor 817 – 2% – Okanagan-Coquihalla
Terry Parker 771 – 2% Parkdale-High Park
Tunya Audain 898 – 2% – North Vancouver
