Blair Timmothy Longley (born September 25, 1950) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

and activist.

Early life

Blair Longley was born on September 25, 1950, in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

and grew up in North Vancouver.

Career

Longley attended the founding meeting of the Green Party of Canada at

Carleton University Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning Wo ...

in November 1983. He went on to be an active member of the

Rhinoceros Party The Rhinoceros Party (sometimes referred to in English as the Second Rhinoceros Party), officially the Parti Rhinocéros Party, is a Canadian federal-level political party. It was known as neorhino.ca until 2010, when the party changed its na ...

of which he was an official agent from 1985 to 1987. He joined the

Marijuana Party Cannabis political parties are generally single-issue parties that exist to oppose the laws against cannabis. Australia In the 1970s, J.J. McRoach ran for parliament as candidate for the Australian Marijuana Party. He had an advertising camp ...

shortly after its foundation and became the party's leader in 2004, following the resignation of Marc-Boris St-Maurice. He has been a candidate for the House of Commons of Canada on four occasions, with three different party labels. He ran for the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

in the 1984 election in the riding of

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

placing a distant fourth of four candidates with 364 of 58,991 votes. In

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

he ran against

opposition leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

John Turner John Napier Wyndham Turner (June 7, 1929September 19, 2020) was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 17th prime minister of Canada from June to September 1984. He served as leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and leader of t ...

, with no party affiliation, and placed ninth of twelve candidates with 52 of 54,654 votes. Longley ran for the Bloc Pot in the 2003 Quebec provincial election. He later ran for the Marijuana Party in the riding of North Okanagan—Shuswap in 2004 and placed fifth of eight candidates with 492 of 51,765 votes, then in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

in the riding of Hochelaga, Quebec, placing eighth of nine with 183 of 45,683 votes. Following the legalization of cannabis in Canada, Longley said it was "going to be harder than ever now for the Marijuana Party to exist". Only four candidates ran for the Marijuana Party in the 2019 federal election. Longley is currently the Marijuana Party's chief agent, in addition to being the Party's leader, and so is ineligible to run in federal elections. Since legalization, Longley has shifted the Marijuana Party's message towards scrutinizing the "rapid capitalization" of the drug.

Electoral record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Longley, Blair T. 1950 births Living people British Columbia candidates for Member of Parliament Canadian cannabis activists Candidates in the 2004 Canadian federal election Candidates in the 2008 Canadian federal election Cannabis political party politicians Green Party of Canada candidates in the 1984 Canadian federal election Independent candidates in the 1988 Canadian federal election Marijuana Party (Canada) politicians Politicians from Vancouver Quebec candidates for Member of Parliament

Early life

Career

Electoral record

See also

References