To make an old sentence politically correct, “Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of the party.” 

In the 2007 general election, the Party ran 25 candidates, received about 9,000 votes and very modest media attention.  We ran candidates in 2 provincial by-elections.  We’ve had booths at the Manning Conference in Ottawa and at Word On The Street in Toronto, to increase our visibility and obtain leads for more members.  Members have organized monthly Pub Nights in 7 cities.  We are increasing our presence on the Internet through Facebook, Twitter and Meetup.  We implemented this new web site. 

In the 2011 general election the Party ran 51 candidates and more than doubled our vote count to over 19,600.  You can read more about it here.  The resulting minority government means that the next election could happen any time.  Our plan is to be ready for an election in the spring of 2013 and to maintain a state of readiness until the election is called.  

In order to keep the momentum going, we want to increase the number of candidates and our vote count again. The longer it takes for the current government to be defeated, the more candidates we should be able to run. Our objective is to run a Libertarian candidate in every riding.  This will increase our visibility with the media and hopefully result in more coverage of the Party and our platform.  As a result, more people will discover the Libertarian Party and some of them will join us.  We are already attracting a number of disillusioned conservatives and young people looking for a real alternative to the socialist parties. 

First, we need people.  Let us know if you’re interested in being a candidate for the Party.  Not only will you be helping the cause, but you will be ensuring you have someone to vote for.  You decide how much effort you want to put into your campaign.  It takes only a few hours to get your name on the ballot, along with the Party name.  A ‘paper’ candidate does very little after that, possibly one or two media interviews.  We expect half will be paper candidates.  If you want to be more active, you can participate in All Candidate meetings, distribute pamphlets, put up signs and knock on doors.  We hope that at least half a dozen candidates will be very active.  Whether you plan to be a paper candidate or active, now is the time to ask for donations from friends, neighbours, and even family! 

If you want to know more about being a candidate, read the Candidate Handbook.

If you are not a Voting Member of the Party, complete and mail the Membership Application to the address on the form with a donation to cover your membership fee (and more if you can make a contribution to our election campaign).

If you are ready to run, please complete the "Candidate Application" form and return it to the Party.  We will send you a C-1 Candidate Registration form required by Elections Ontario.  It must be signed by you, your CFO and the Party CFO.

To get your name on the ballot, you will need to collect signatures from 25 registered voters in the riding.  (It's a good idea to get 30-35 in case some do not live in the riding or are not on the voters list.)  The required Nomination Form is available on the Elections Ontario web site Forms page.  You don't need to wait until the election is called to collect signatures. 

Print copies of this pamphlet to hand out to friends and neighbours (and even relatives) who might be interested in our ideas.

The Party will provide advice, pamphlets, and signs.  This will take money.  We estimate we will need $30,000 just to support 90 candidates.  For another $15,000 we should be able to run radio ad campaigns in smaller markets like Barrie-Simcoe and Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph if we have candidates in all or most of the ridings in that market.  In addition to money, it will take effort to get signs and pamphlets prepared and delivered to candidates.  We need people with a little financial experience to be Chief Financial Officers for one or more candidates.  If you would like to work 'behind the scenes' send us a message.   

Elections are an excellent opportunity to get our message out.  While the term “libertarian” is heard more often, there are still lots of people who don’t know we exist or what the term means.  We need your help to change this.  Please use our online donation page to contribute $500, $300, $200, or whatever you can afford, to our campaign through PayPal.  If you prefer to send a cheque, mail it to the address here.  Do it now, to ensure you take advantage of the refundable Political Tax Credit.  You will get back 75% of the first $372 contributed in a year and 50% of the next $1,240.