The Humanist Party of Ontario (HPO) is an unregistered

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

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 C ...

, Canada. The party has fielded candidates in the

1994 Toronto municipal election The 1994 Toronto municipal election was held in November 1994 to elect councillors in Metropolitan Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and mayors, councillors and school trustees in Toronto, York, East York, North York, Scarborough and Etobicoke. The elec ...

, the

1997 Toronto municipal election The 1997 Toronto municipal election was the first election held for offices in the amalgamated "megacity" of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The elections were administered by the old City of Toronto and its five suburbs within Metropolitan Toronto. Th ...

, the 1999 provincial election, and the

2003 Toronto municipal election The 2003 Toronto municipal election was held on 10 November 2003, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, to elect the Mayor of Toronto, 44 city councillors, and school board trustees. David Miller was elected mayor ( Results of 2003 Toronto election). ...

. The HPO is a member of the

Humanist International The Humanist International (also known as the International Humanist Party) is a consortium of political parties adhering to universal humanism (also known as Siloism, after the nickname of the movement's founder), founded in 1989 by over 40 na ...

Ideology

The party's philosophy has its roots in the current of thought known as New or Universal Humanism, which has been developed since the 1960s by Mario Rodríguez Cobos. The HPO argues that, "by the very fact of being human, people should have their basic rights met

Manifesto

The Humanist Party issued a document in 1999 entitled "ORANGE BOOK: For an Ontario of Human Rights". The basic positions outlined in this book include *a Canadian constitution, constitutional guarantee of free and universal health care *free and universal post-secondary education *free or greatly reduced public transportation fees *interest-free community banks to provide small-business loans *co-management of businesses by labour and capital to stimulate the economy and reduce unemployment *voter recall for negligent elected officials *the establishment of a Ministry of Human Rights in Ontario. Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20050403095455/http://www.web.net/~humanist/hparty.htm In 2003, the Humanist Party began a campaign entitled "Humanize Toronto", calling for an end to homelessness and free

Toronto Transit Commission The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is the public transport agency that operates bus, subway, streetcar, and paratransit services in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, some of which run into the Peel Region and York Region. It is the oldest and larges ...

access on smog days. It also released an alternative budget for the city. The party's candidates and electoral results from 2003 are liste
here

Party candidates

Jorge Van Schouwen

Van Schouwen is a

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

for office. He campaigned in the 1985 Quebec election in Mont-Royal as a candidate of the

Parti humaniste du Québec Parti humaniste du Québec (English: Humanist Party of Quebec) was a provincial political party in Canadian province of Quebec. It contested the 1985 provincial election and also fielded candidates in a number of by-elections before folding. The pa ...

, and received 54 votes, finishing eighth against

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

candidate John Ciaccia. He was 31 years old at the time (''Montreal Gazette'', 25 November 1985). He received 99 votes in the 1999 Ontario election, finishing seventh against Liberal

Gerard Kennedy Gerard Michael Kennedy (born July 24, 1960) is a Canadian politician in Ontario, Canada. He served as Ontario's minister of Education from 2003 to 2006, when he resigned to make an unsuccessful bid for the leadership of the Liberal Party of Ca ...

Parkdale—High Park Parkdale—High Park is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. It was created during the 1976 electoral boundaries redistribution from parts of Parkdale, Hig ...

. His electoral record at the municipal level is as follows: * 1997 Toronto election, Ward 19, 599 votes, eighth out of eight candidates. The winners for this two-member ward were David Miller and Chris Korwin-Kuczynski. * 2000 Toronto election, Ward 14 Councillor, 416 votes, fourth out of four candidates. The winner was Chris Korwin-Kuczynski.

Roberto Verdecchia

Verdecchia is the co-founder of Annex newspaper. He supports lowering the voting age to sixteen, and entrenching the

right to health care The right to health is the economic, social, and cultural right to a universal minimum standard of health to which all individuals are entitled. The concept of a right to health has been enumerated in international agreements which include the U ...

and free post-secondary education in the

Canadian Constitution The Constitution of Canada (french: Constitution du Canada) is the supreme law in Canada. It outlines Canada's system of government and the civil and human rights of those who are citizens of Canada and non-citizens in Canada. Its contents ar ...

(''Toronto Star'', 30 May 1997). In 1996, he participated in a press conference with David Suzuki to draw attention to a boycott of the pulp and paper multinational firm Daishowa, and Daishowa's subsequent lawsuit against those behind the boycot

He has also produced "Making a Killing: Canada and the Arms Trade

Verdecchia opposed plans for a bridge to the Toronto airport in the 2003 municipal election, and called for the establishment of "micro-banks" to provide interest-free loans in different neighbourhoods (''Toronto Star'', 6 November 2003). He was listed as 32 years old. {, class="wikitable" width="800" , + Electoral record , - ! align="left" , Election ! align="left" , Division ! align="left" , Party ! align="right" , Votes ! align="right" , % ! align="center" , Place ! align="center" , Winner , - , align="left" , 1997 Canadian federal election, 1997 federal , align="left" ,

Trinity—Spadina Trinity—Spadina was a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that was represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1988 to 2015. It generally encompassed the western portion of Downtown Toronto. Its federal Member of Parliam ...

, align="left" , Ind. , align="right" , 129 , align="right" , , align="center" , 10/10 , align="left" ,

Tony Ianno Anthony "Tony" Ianno (born 1957) is a businessman and a former Canadian politician. He served as a Liberal Party of Canada MP representing Trinity—Spadina (1993–2006) and Minister of Families and Caregivers (2004–06). Personal life Bor ...

, - , align="left" , 1997 municipal , align="left" , Ward 24 Council , align="left" , - , align="right" , 787 , align="right" , 1.58 , align="center" , 8/9 , align="left" ,

Olivia Chow Olivia Chow (; born March 24, 1957) is a Canadian retired politician who was a federal New Democratic Party (NDP) member of Parliament (MP) representing Trinity—Spadina from 2006 to 2014. Chow ran in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election, placin ...

and

Kyle Rae Kyle Rae (born January 23, 1954) is a Canadian consultant and former politician. Rae was a member of Toronto City Council from 1991 to 2010, representing Ward 6 in the old city from 1991 to 1997 and Ward 27 Toronto Centre-Rosedale following the m ...

, - , align="left" , 1999 provincial , align="left" ,

, align="left" , Ind. , align="right" , 258 , align="right" , 0.72 , align="center" , 6/8 , align="left" , Rosario Marchese, New Democratic Party , - , align="left" , 2000 municipal , align="left" , Ward 20 Council , align="left" , - , align="right" , 1,126 , align="right" , 9.59 , align="center" , 3/3 , align="left" ,

, - , align="left" , 2003 municipal , align="left" , Ward 20 Council , align="left" , - , align="right" , 484 , align="right" , 4.77 , align="center" , 4/5 , align="left" ,

The party's other candidate in the 1999 provincial election was Matthew Albrecht of Kitchener—Waterloo, who received 202 votes.

External links

Humanist PartyHumanize Toronto
1994 establishments in Ontario

Political parties established in 1994