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Free Party Canada
Political party in Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Free Party Canada (French: Parti Libre Canada) was a minor federal political party in Canada that also existed provincially in Quebec as a provincial and municipal party. It was led by Michel Leclerc, advocated for direct democracy and lower taxes, and promoted vaccine hesitancy.
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History
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In 2016, the party registered provincially in Quebec as Parti libre Saint-Sauveur ("Free Party Saint-Sauveur") and ran in local elections in Saint-Sauveur, as well as in the 2017 by-election for Gouin.[2][3][4][5] Its eight candidates in the 2018 Quebec general election received a total of 1,618 votes.[6] Registered federally on September 30, 2020,[7] its first federal campaign was for the 2020 Toronto Centre federal by-election.[8]
2021 election
The party ran 59 candidates in the 2021 Canadian federal election, most of them in Quebec or in Francophone areas of New Brunswick and Ontario,[9] garnering over 47,000 votes.[10] Its platform attracted notice for its opposition to mandated COVID vaccination[11][12][13][14][15][16] and vaccination passports,[17] and some candidates had been active in organising events opposed to the pandemic health measures.[18][19] The party also called for the introduction of a direct democracy and lower taxes.[20][21][22][23] Other candidates raised issues of housing affordability, transport and local accountability to electors.[9][24][25] Party leader Michel Leclerc ran in Laurentides—Labelle, where he had been an independent candidate in the 2019 Canadian federal election.[26] In an interview with a TVA 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.[27]
Deregistration
After failing to comply with financial reporting obligations in the Canada Elections Act in 2023, Free Party Canada was deregistered by Elections Canada, effective December 31, 2024.[28]
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Election results
Federal
Provincial
Municipal (Saint-Sauveur)
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References
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