[maplesyrup]

CH website

Have you ever voted for them?

62 candidates are running for them in this election.

Christian Heritage Party leader urges supporters to keep fighting

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ST. THOMAS -- National Christian Heritage Party Leader Ron Gray came to Pinafore Park yesterday, sharing strawberries with supporters and urging them to keep fighting in the final days of the federal election campaign. The one-time journalist is campaigning to increase the 18-year-old party's share of the vote in the June 28 federal election.

His St. Thomas appearance, featuring a feed of local berries, was in support of Ken DeVries, the party's candidate in Elgin-Middlesex-London.

Christian Heritage, which bills itself as pro-life and pro-family, is running candidates in 62 ridings of Canada's 308, including 31 in Ontario.

[DAC]

Have you ever voted for them?

Not yet, but only because we've never managed sufficient support in my riding to establish a meaningful riding association. The CHP is fairly demanding on that score.

They are the only party in our spectrum that I have long term hope that they will limit corruption in their party. They are also the only party that I expect in the long term will keep working to establish freedom and tolerance.

[August1991]

The Communist Party (Marxist-Leninist) has 76 candidates running. Or is that the Marxist-Leninist Party (Communist)? Their web site is here. In 2000, the party received 8204 votes out of 12,857,773. (The Marijuana Party got 66,258. The CHP doesn't seem to have run.)

These parties have every right to campaign and run.

In 2004, I bet the Marijuana Party comes sixth (if "non-valid" doesn't count as a party). I would prefer a ballot with the explicit choice "None of the above" instead of the option of simply crossing out the whole ballot.

[noelandmero]

Canada could always put the write in vote in it is an option on US ballots. I have voted for arnie twice in california and he only ran once but before he ran both my choices were so appauling I worte down arnie

[DAC]

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The CHP doesn't seem to have run

The CHP ran in the last election, but through some reorganization, and people moving to the Alliance to try for a big push (Stockwell Day made it more attractive to Christians, at least in terms of his personal beliefs) they did not have enough candidates to get official party status.

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I would prefer a ballot with the explicit choice "None of the above" instead of the option of simply crossing out the whole ballot.

That's among my 3 highly desired constitutional amendments, to put "none of the above" at the bottom of every ballot - & to provide that if "none of the above" gets the most votes, no candidate is elected and an immediate byelection is automatically called with the defeated candidates barred from running.

[August1991]

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The CHP ran in the last election

There was no mention of the CHP in 2000 official results.

[DAC]

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There was no mention of the CHP in 2000 official results.

I understand that, and I wasn't trying to be critical. In fact I even noticed your original qualifier, when you said, the CHP did not appear to run. Elections Canada treats parties which do not nominate 50 candidates as a bunch of independents, so they don't appear as such in the official results. It wasn't that the CHP didn't run, but that they weren't "official".

[Reverend Blair]

Okay, first let me say that I find the Christian Heritage Party a bad idea. That's being extremely censorous of myself. I find them so repulsive that I'd have to make up words to accurately describe my feelings. Still self-censoring, but I think that gets it across.

So what? They are Canadians and they deserve a voice. I have no doubt that if I created a party of Atheist Evolutionists With Odd Ideas they'd be as repulsed as I am at them. Or maybe they already are. Again...so what?

The point is that everybody deserves a voice. If they aren't allowed a voice how can I yell at them? How can they yell at me?

I hate to harp on the proportional representation thing (no I don't, I love to harp on it) and I'm pretty sure that DAC doesn't read Hunter Thompson books while listening to Bruce Cockburn tunes and drinking mass quantities of beer but the Christian Heritage Party does deserve a say in Canada.

They took the time to organise a party, they have a viewpoint, and we claim to be a democracy. Let's have a real good go at it, DAC....Proportional representaion isn't just for the left, you know.

[cgarrett]

hey, i bet they're not lying through their teeth to get elected! not like some parties i know!
proportional representation all the way!

[DAC]

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They took the time to organise a party, they have a viewpoint, and we claim to be a democracy. Let's have a real good go at it, DAC....Proportional representaion isn't just for the left, you know.

Then let me tell you one thing you can approve about the CHP. Their policy calls for proportional representation. Personally, I might be drawn to a partial proportional system, so we don't throw out one set of problems, just to buy the whole bag of another set, but that's a detail.

FWIW, I think you hit the nail on the head on the most important structural principle for a democratic government. Every citizen gets a voice, no matter how much you or I may object to their views. I've been saddened to see how many people would like to deny those with whom they disagree even the right to engage in the political process.

[Reverend Blair]

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hey, i bet they're not lying through their teeth to get elected! not like some parties i know!

That's actually something I respect about a lot of "right wing" fringe parties. Hell, I have a lot of respect for Pat Buchanan even though I've never agreed with a single word that sprang from his mouth. He actually speaks what he believes (Nixon speech-writing time notwithstanding).

There are a lot of people I don't agree with, and I'll argue my point to the death with them. There aren't a lot of people I actually trust though...that I believe that they believe what they are saying, or even care about it enough to realise what they are saying.

[Cartman]

Hmmm...I am not sure that a CHP candidate would be any more honest than politicians from other parties. Believe it or not, even religious folks can tell tales or behave improperly. Religion and politics are a bad mix. I cannot think of many examples where the combination has worked well.

[maplesyrup]

Did anyone hear how the Christian Heritage Party make out this election? I think they ran candidates in 50-65 ridings.

I am curious to know in which ridings the CHP garnered the most strength in last Monday's election.

One would think that with all the churches in Canada the CHP would be well positioned to take a few seats if they played their cards right in the next election.

[DAC]

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  Did anyone hear how the Christian Heritage Party make out this election? I think they ran candidates in 50-65 ridings.
I am curious to know in which ridings the CHP garnered the most strength in last Monday's election.
One would think that with all the churches in Canada the CHP would be well positioned to take a few seats if they played their cards right in the next election.

CHP ran 62 candidates, I'm pretty sure. I had an email somewhere commenting on results, which indicated that the best result was between 5 & 6% of the local vote.

Unless they have changed their policy without my noticing, the CHP is opposed to asking churches to support them. They do not believe that churches should take a direct stance in politics except on the most serious issues. The church's role is to teach their members God's truth and encourage them to live it, and in specifically moral issues, to call the nation to account, not to endorse a political party.

Combine that with the fact half the churches and half of those who call themselves Christian in this land would have no sympathy with the CHP's views, and that fact that recent ideas of "separation of church and state" play very well in many of the churches that would sympathize with the CHP views, and it's an uphill battle all the way.

But the CHP ios not really interested in being elected by the Christians alone. Its goal is to convince nonChristians as well as Christians that they are trustworthy, and that they would give the best government of any party. To that end they have a full-orbed party policy available on their web site.

[maplesyrup]

Now that the Conservatives are going to put people like Belinda Stronach in positions of prominence, and try and put the so-cons out of sight, as much as possible, to appear "MODERATE", I would imagine that the Christian Heritage Party is going to get a big boost in the next federal election.
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