Aiming high: parties outside current mainstream hope to sit in Queen's Park

When it comes to media coverage of the provincial election, much of the attention goes to the four main parties: Progressive Conservatives, NDP, Liberals and Greens.

That's because in the 2018 election, those four parties had at least one candidate elected to Queen's Park.

But they're not the only parties with candidates on the ballot. The others sometimes called minor parties want to shake things up.

Perhaps the most notablein this election is the New Blue, which has candidates running in each Ontario riding and was started by Belinda and Jim Karahalios of Cambridge.

Belinda Karahalios is the incumbent in Cambridge and serves as the party's president. She was elected as Cambridge's Member of Provincial Parliament in 2018 as a Progressive Conservative, but formed the New Blue Party with her husband after she was removed from the PC caucus for voting against the government in July 2020.

"The last four years have been a huge disappointment, both for Ontarians who voted for the [Doug] Ford PCs back in 2018 and those who did not," Belinda Karahalios said at a press conference this past week when she and her husband launched the party's platform, called The New Blueprint.

The platform does not include any costing information and offers broad promises such as that the party will "end all COVID-19 mandates" and "grow Ontario's economy."

Jim Karahalios, who is the party's leader and is running in the riding of Kitchener-Conestoga, said the New Blue platform "obviously starts with commitments to change the course."

The party proposes making changes to how political parties operate, including to ban lobbyists from internal party politics and "crack down on voter fraud in internal party elections," he said.

That second part is personal to him. In 2018, he ran to be party president for the Progessive Conservatives in Ontario, but claimed in a lawsuit that officials rigged the election. Another candidate won.

New Blue has candidates in all local ridings:

• Peter Beimers, Kitchener Centre.
• Bob Hosken, Perth-Wellington.
• Belinda Karahalios, Cambridge.
• Jim Karahalios, Kitchener-Conestoga.
• Stephen Kitras, Wellington-Halton Hills. Kitrascurrently is a township councillor in Centre Wellington.
• Will Lomker, Guelph
• John Teat, Kitchener South-Hespeler.
• Volodymyr Voznyuk, Waterloo.

'You know, I believe in miracles'

The Ontario Party, headed by former federal Conservative MP Derek Sloan, has three candidates in and around the region:

• David Gillies in Kitchener South-Hespeler.
• Elizabeth Perrin Snyder in Kitchener-Conestoga.
• Benjamin Hufnagel in Waterloo.
• Sandy MacGregor in Perth-Wellington.

The party was launched in May 2018, and ran five candidates in the previous Ontario election. The party'swebsite says it stands for "freedom, family and faith."

Gillies says he never had aspirations of being a politician.

"I hate politics," he told CBC News.

"I have no interest in actually being in politics. I just, at this point, I feel like in Ontario, at least the last eight years, we've kind of had a lot of failed policies."

He says he knows Sloan personallyand Sloan's values "run right alongside mine."

Gillies said he "holds no illusions" when it comes to the campaign and winning the riding. He's had a few doors slammed in his face. He knows his fellow candidates of more established parties have a larger support network while he had to start his own riding association.

"But at the same time, you know, I believe in miracles," Gillies said.

He says he looks forward to a campaign of talking to people, hearing their side and hopefully, they'll listen to what he has to say.

"The big parties, all their talking points are hot button issues that get people riled. But really, in the big scheme of things, it's not what their constituents are looking for," Gillies said.

"It's about actually being on the street, being available for them to talk to and tell me their real issues."

Push people to think differently

People who have voted in Guelph over the last decade may recognize Juanita Burnett's name. She is the candidate for the Communist party in this election. She's been a candidate in previous municipal, provincial and federal elections and has also worked behind the scenes for the party.

She says she used to support the NDP, but started her research on the Communist party when her son took an interest in them. The party's stance on worker rights made sense to her.

"Many people, I think, right now are realizing that capitalism isn't really working for workers," she said.

The pandemic, which impacted how many people earn a living, seems to have sparked interest in the party, too, as they've seen "a whole lot more interest, a whole lot more applicants to the party in the last couple of years," she said.

Burnett acknowledges the Communist party doesn't earn many votes in elections Burnett garnered 109 votes in the 2018 provincial election but a big part of why she runs in elections is to get the other parties talking about issues.

It's "a way to push things a little further to the left again," she says.

"We need a people's alternative," Burnett said. "Itgets our message out. It pushes other people to think outside of the usual boxes."

She said the campaigns have also taught her a lot about the city and the people who are her neighbours.

"Part of being involved in elections means you get to become a part of a number of communities and I think that's important for socialism, but also just for a healthy way to live," she said.

Christian Shingirois also running for the Communist party in Waterloo.

Electoral reform, personal freedom

In Waterloo, Peter House is listed as a candidate for the Electoral Reform Party. CBC Kitchener-Waterloo attempted to reach House for an interview, but he did not respond to emails.

In a YouTube video posted during the federal election of 2021, he said he supported the federal Liberals in 2015 because they ran on a promise to introduce proportional representation. When the Liberals didn't make that a reality, he felt change was needed.

In Kitchener-Conestoga, Jason Adair is running for Populist Party Ontario. That party's website says it thinks government overreach is "out of control" and the party will "fight to restore integrity, justice, fairness and freedom to our society."

In Guelph, Paul Taylor is running for the None of the Above party. The party says it stands for getting people elected "who are not bound by party control and who truly can represent their constituents first."

Ron Patavais running for Consensus Ontario in Wellington-Halton Hills. The party says the current system with political parties doesn't address local issues well enough and "removal of all political parties will solve the poor representation individual ridings."

In Perth-Wellington, Robby Smink is running for the Freedom Party of Ontario, a party he has been part of since 1985 and he's run under the party's banner every year since.

The party's website says it is focused on the COVID-19 restrictions implemented by the provincial government in 2020 and 2021. The four pillars in its platform are: "Truth, rights, justice and freedom."

But can they win?

Anna Esselment is an associate professor of political science at the University of Waterloo who says it's not often that suchparties make a big difference in an election.

"It's tough for these new parties, especially on their very first election," she said.

"A lot of new parties that come on the scene have a smattering of support across the province, but the way our first-past-the-post election system works in terms of actually winning a seat, it's rarely an efficient vote. Meaning, it's rare that you would have a lot of supporters for that brand new party in one riding that could then make sure that it wins first on the ballot and wins the seat."

She said the parties can have other effects on the election, such as vote splitting. She noted the Progressive Conservatives may lose some votes to the Ontario Party or New Blue, although just how many votes is yet to be seen.

While incumbents often have an edge to re-taketheir seat, she noted that's not always the case for people who switch parties. Someone like Belinda Karahalios, who was removed from the PC caucus and has formed a new party, couldfind it difficult to get re-elected, Esselment said.

"In Cambridge, I think what will happen is we will see a number of people supporting Karahalios, and that actually might be a case where the vote gets split and the Liberals or the NDP will be able to retake it. I'm pretty sure both Liberals and the NDP are concentrating pretty hard on Cambridge," she said.

LISTEN |UW's Anna Esselment on the impact of parties in an election: