Dean Wasson is a politician and public servant in Ontario, Canada. He was a founding member of the

Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party The Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party is a minor political party in Ontario, Canada, the provincial branch of the now-defunct Confederation of Regions Party of Canada. The party was founded in 1989, around the time the federal CoR ...

(CoR), and leader of the party in the 1990 provincial election. Wasson's family arrived in the Peterborough region in 1831. Before entering political life, he spent many years in volunteer positions in minor hockey and minor and senior lacrosse and church organizations. He also held many senior management positions in business and finance with a major corporation. In 1991, Wasson testified before a provincial committee on

bilingualism Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

that the

Canadian Charter of Rights The ''Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms'' (french: Charte canadienne des droits et libertés), often simply referred to as the ''Charter'' in Canada, is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada, forming the first part o ...

should allow "cultural diversity by region". He also called for Ontario to promote the de-Confederation of Quebec from Canada in the event that a compromise on federal issues could not be reached, and spoke of the importance of English cultural heritage within Canad

Critics of the Ontario Confederation of Regions Party have argued that references to "English heritage" are code phrases for cultural intolerance, although the CoR denied this. The national Confederation of Regions party was formed to promote western autonomy within Canada, and to oppose official bilingualism. The Ontario Party appeared shortly before the 1990 election, after a number of municipalities in the province declared themselves unilingually English, and the governing Ontario Liberal Party indicated that it was considering adopting official bilingualism as a policy for Ontario. The CoR was formed to address the perceived

reverse discrimination Reverse discrimination is a term for discrimination against members of a dominant or majority group, in favor of members of a minority or historically disadvantaged group. Groups may be defined in terms of ethnicity, gender identity, nationality, ...

inherent in government services through bilingualism. The party's leadership and executive developed policy and promoted riding association development prior to the election. There is no evidence that Wasson played a major role in the provincial campaign. He received 1,586 votes in the riding of Peterborough, finishing fifth out of six candidates. The winner was

Jenny Carter Jenny Carter (born December 26, 1931) is a former politician in Ontario, Canada. She was a New Democratic Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1990 to 1995, and served as a cabinet minister in the government of Bob Rae. Backg ...

of the Ontario New Democratic Party. Wasson was also a city councillor for

Peterborough, Ontario City Council The Peterborough City Council is a city council that governs Peterborough, Ontario, Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It consists of the mayor of Peterborough, Diane Therrien and ten councillors, who are elected in five two-member wards across the cit ...

from 1993 to 1995. In 2002-03, he served as chairman of the Peterborough Flood Relief Committee, assisting those who lost property in a rainfall. From 1995 to 2000 he was active in the Kawartha Food Share serving as its founding President, General Manager and warehouse manager. Kawartha Food Share collects and redistributes food to local food banks.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wasson, Dean Ontario political party leaders Living people Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party politicians Candidates in Ontario provincial elections Peterborough, Ontario city councillors Year of birth missing (living people)