The Ontario Provincial Confederation of Regions Party is a minor political party in

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 provincial branch of the now-defunct Confederation of Regions Party of Canada. The party was founded in 1989, around the time the federal CoR was dissolved, and remains the last Confederation of Regions Party in Canada. The CoR survives only in Ontario, though once a national movement whose original ''raison d'être'' was to promote the rights of regions other than

and

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 ...

, now it advocates for regions within Ontario. It has reinvented itself twice: in the 1990s, first in campaigning across mainly rural regions of Ontario with targeted policies, before in the 2000s finding resonance in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...

and

Northeastern Ontario Northeastern Ontario is a secondary region of Northern Ontario in the Canadian province of Ontario, which lies north of Lake Huron and east of Lake Superior. Northeastern Ontario consists of the districts of Algoma, Sudbury, Cochrane, Timiskami ...

, where it continues to play a minor role in provincial elections.

Party platform

The party campaigns on the promotion of direct democracy, protection of

Canadian heritage The Department of Canadian Heritage, or simply Canadian Heritage (french: Patrimoine canadien), is the Ministry (government department), department of the Cabinet of Canada, Government of Canada that has roles and responsibilities related to init ...

and

environmental sustainability Specific definitions of sustainability are difficult to agree on and have varied in the literature and over time. The concept of sustainability can be used to guide decisions at the global, national, and individual levels (e.g. sustainable livin ...

, while opposing

urban sprawl Urban sprawl (also known as suburban sprawl or urban encroachment) is defined as "the spreading of urban developments (such as houses and shopping centers) on undeveloped land near a city." Urban sprawl has been described as the unrestricted growt ...

onto farmland,

big business Big business involves large-scale corporate-controlled financial or business activities. As a term, it describes activities that run from "huge transactions" to the more general "doing big things". In corporate jargon, the concept is commonly ...

and unionization. The party's proposed health care plan would "give individuals more responsibility over their own health care", however, it would not support a

two-tier health care Two-tier healthcare is a situation in which a basic government-provided healthcare system provides basic care, and a secondary tier of care exists for those who can pay for additional, better quality or faster access. Most countries have both pu ...

system. If elected, the party would hold a referendum on the

French Language Services Act The ''French Language Services Act'' (french: Loi sur les services en français) (the ''Act'') is a law in the province of Ontario, Canada which is intended to protect the rights of Franco-Ontarians, or French-speaking people, in the province. T ...

, and halt all

multicultural The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

funding.

Election results

Results of recent elections for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario: In the 1990 election, CoR candidates in Algoma,

Cochrane South Cochrane South was an electoral riding in Ontario, Canada. It represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1926 to 1999. It encompassed the southern part of the Cochrane District, including the city of Timmins. For the 1999 election ...

Nickel Belt Nickel Belt is one of two federal electoral districts serving the city of Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. It has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1953. Geography It consists of: * the part of the Territorial District ...

, Sudbury,

Sudbury East Sudbury East was a provincial electoral riding in the Canadian province of Ontario, that was represented in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1967 to 1999. It served the easternmost portion of the former city of Sudbury, the eastern port ...

and Sault Ste. Marie placed ahead of Ontario Progressive Conservative Party candidates. The party rapidly declined in popularity, receiving about 0.1% with only 6 candidates province-wide vote in 1995, and then less than 0.01% of the province wide popular vote in the 2 registered candidate 1999, 1 registered candidate 2003, 2 registered candidate 2007, 3 registered candidate 2011, 2 registered candidate 2014 and the 2 registered candidate 2018 elections. Typical of that 1999-2018 era was the 2014 General Election. The party was only able to field two candidates in the 2014 election. Fauzia Sadiq, the party's candidate in

Timmins—James Bay Timmins—James Bay (french: Timmins—Baie James) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997. Its population in 2011 was 83,104. The district includes the extreme ...

campaigned on a platform of eliminating

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inhe ...

es, cutting government positions & introducing two-year term limits. Sadiq received 61 votes. The party's only other candidate was long-time candidate and party president Murray Reid in

Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons since 1979. It is represented by Cheryl Gallant of the Conservative Party. Renfrew—Nipissing—Pembroke inc ...

who received 490 votes. However, heading towards the June 2nd, 2022, General Election in the Province of Ontario, of the province's 124 constituencies, the party has 3 organized constituency associations and all 3 associations are offering candidates for this 2022 election, according to

Elections Ontario Elections Ontario (french: Élections Ontario) is an independent office of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario responsible for the administration of provincial elections and referendums. It is charged with the implementation and enforcement of th ...

. That same election administration body reports that the coming June 2022 will feature 26 registered political parties of which 4 parties are seen as "major" parties. Thus of the remaining 22 "minor" parties, according to Elections Ontario data, as a "minor" party, CoR is able to maintain more organized constituency associations than 12 of those 22 "minor" parties, thus making CoR a "Top Half" "minor" party, organization-wise, in the province. The party failed to win any seats in the 2022 Ontario general election.

Party leaders

Dean Wasson has been the party's only leader, heading the party in the 1990 election. The party has not fielded a leader in any subsequent election, considering itself to be a

grass roots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

organization, and will choose a leader if the party wins seats. The party's one candidate nominated in the 2003 election, Richard Butson, was cited as the ''de facto'' leader. After Butson's death in 2015, Eileen Butson was named as president of the party. Murray Reid is now referred as the de facto leader of the party and president as of 2018.

Party platform

Election results

Party leaders

References

See also