Free Party Canada (french: Parti Libre Canada) is a minor federal political party in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It is led by Michel Leclerc, advocates for

direct democracy Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the Election#Electorate, electorate decides on policy initiatives without legislator, elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently establishe ...

and lower taxes, and promotes

vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy is a delay in acceptance, or refusal, of vaccines despite the availability of vaccine services and supporting evidence. The term covers refusals to vaccinate, delaying vaccines, accepting vaccines but remaining uncertain abou ...

History

In 2016, the party registered provincially in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

as ("Free Party Saint-Sauveur") and ran in local elections in

Saint-Sauveur Saint-Sauveur or St Sauveur (French for "Holy Savior") may refer to: Places Canada * Saint-Sauveur, New Brunswick * Saint-Sauveur, Quebec * Saint-Sauveur (electoral district), a former provincial electoral district in Quebec * Saint-Sauveur, Quebe ...

, as well as in the 2017 by-election for Gouin. Its eight candidates in the

2018 Quebec general election The 2018 Quebec general election was held on October 1, 2018, to elect members to the National Assembly of Quebec. The election saw a landslide victory for the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) led by François Legault, which won 74 of 125 seats, ...

received a total of 1,618 votes. Registered federally on September 30, 2020, its first federal campaign was for the

2020 Toronto Centre federal by-election A by-election was held in the federal riding of Toronto Centre in Ontario on October 26, 2020, following the resignation of incumbent Liberal MP and Minister of Finance Bill Morneau. After 5 years in Parliament, and as many years as finance minist ...

2021 election

The party ran 59 candidates in the

2021 Canadian federal election The 2021 Canadian federal election was held on September 20, 2021, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 44th Canadian Parliament. The writs of election were issued by Governor General Mary Simon on August 15, 2021, when Prime Minist ...

, most of them in Quebec or in Francophone areas of

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, garnering over 47,000 votes. Its platform attracted notice for its opposition to mandated COVID vaccination and vaccination passports, and some candidates had been active in organising events opposed to the pandemic health measures. The party also called for the introduction of a

and lower taxes. Other candidates raised issues of housing affordability, transport and local accountability to electors. Party leader Michel Leclerc ran in

Laurentides—Labelle Laurentides—Labelle is a federal electoral district (Canada), electoral district in Quebec, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. Geography The district is located north of Gatineau and northwest of ...

, where he had been an

independent candidate An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

in the

2019 Canadian federal election The 2019 Canadian federal election was held on October 21, 2019. Member of Parliament (Canada), Members of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons were elected to the 43rd Canadian Parliament. In keeping with the Fixed election dates in ...

. In an interview with a

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina ...

comedian at an anti-vaccination rally, Leclerc claimed that viruses were humans, that vaccinations decreased life expectancy, and (claiming to be trained as an astronaut) denied the Moon landing.

Election results

Federal

Municipal (Saint-Sauveur)

References

{{Canadian federal political parties 2020 establishments in Canada Political parties established in 2020 Federal political parties in Canada Anti-vaccination organizations