Libertarian ran in Leeds-Grenville By-elections on March 4. Anthony Giles was our candidate in Leeds-Grenville. You can find out more about Anthony at his web site. Our objective was to let voters in the riding know we exist. He received several mentions in the press and we ran a 1/8 page ad in the local weekly newspaper for two weeks prior to the election. He received 0.5% of the vote, not bad for a paper candidate.

Heath Thomas was our candidate in Toronto Centre By-election on February 4. Heath ran to provide the "politically homeless" someone to vote for. We hope to find a few new members for the party.

Previous Elections
St. Paul's By-election September 17/09. John Kittredge ran again in the riding vacated by the now-infamous Michael Bryant.
Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock By-Election March 5/09 - Paolo Fabrizio ran against John Tory.
Ontario General Election October 10, 2007 - 25 Libertarian Candidates

The winter issue of Bulletin is available online. This issue provides a report on the Annual General Meeting and Craig Hodgins' report on Election Plans for 2011. Karen Selick presents the case for legalizing the sale of raw milk. Allen Small advises us what's wrong with McGuinty's plans for full-day kendergarten. Jim McIntosh reports on Paolo Fabrizio's tireless activities in Barrie and we reprint one of his letters published in the Barrie Examiner. Read it here. (Acrobat Reader required)

Watch this 3 minute video on libertarian economics called "Letting Be." It was produced by Brendan Conway-Smith, a new member of the Party, as his entry for the Fraser Institute Student Video Contest of 2009. He also co-produced Education Un-Ltd:  This 8 1/2 minute video tells the history of public education in the United States and its origins in Prussia, and mentions how Egerton Ryerson imported Prussian education into Ontario Schools.

Shona Holmes on government-run Health Care Shona Holmes was unable to get either a timely diagnosis or treatment for a brain tumour that would have killed her if it wasn't removed. She went to the Mayo Clinic in the US for a complete diagnosis, but these results were ignored by doctors in Canada. As a result, she went back to the Mayo Clinic and they treated her promptly. She then was the centre piece for a US TV ad opposing government operated health care. As a result she has been harrased by phone and email for criticizing Canada's health care system. Click on the video to the left to see the Foxx News story. If you want to know more details visit the Canadian Constitution Foundation. The CCF is supporting Shona Holmes and Lindsay McCreith in a constitutional action against the Ontario Government.

A Short course in Brain Surgery - The story of Lindsay McCreith Filmmaker Stuart Browning shows the callousness of "single-payer," government-run health care systems as practiced in Canada.  Click the image on the left to view his 5 1/2 minute video.  Western Standard published details of this story in the December 4 issue.  Read More

The fall issue of Bulletin is available online. John Kittredge was our candidate in the September 17 by-election in St. Paul's. Chairman Heath Thomas reflects on the recession, bailout and expected tax increases, and how it can be used to our advantage. We have a story about "Heidi's Bar" that provides an explanation for the financial crisis that is easy to understand. Craig Hodgins, our Campaign Director, explains our goals for the 2011 General Election and asks for candidates and money to help reach them. The Party sponsored Ezra Levant on September 26 to talk about his inquisition by the Human Rights Commission. Allen Small explains how we can use Operation Politically Homeless at this year's "Word On The Street" event to increase our name recognition and possibly gain a few new members. Read it here. (Acrobat Reader required)

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING - SATURDAY NOVEMBER 7, 2009, was held at the Yorkland Hotel in Toronto. Fred McMahon of the Fraser Institute explained how they calculate the economic freedom index for many countries around the world. It turns out that countries with higher economic freedom have better economic growth. Gerry Nichols, President of Libertas Post, talked about some of the lessons he learned from one of North America's top political consultants while working at the National Citizens Coalition. His main message was stick to your principles and find attention-grabbing ways to present them. He also had some very nice things to say about the Libertarain Party. You can see the text of his speech here. Our Campaign Director, Craig Hodgins, presented the latest plans for the October 2011 election. We plan to run 60 candidates, so we are looking for lots of volunteers. Even if they only run as paper candidates, the Libertarain name will be on the ballot. And we need at least $30,000 in our war chest to support these candidates. More would allow us to experiment with radio and newspaper advertising. We elected Gene Balfour and Allen Small as Members at Large and Anthony Giles, George Dance and Nunzio Venuto as members of the Ethics Committee. John Kittredge talked about his experience in the St. Paul's provincial by-election held September 17, 2009 (see below). Unfortunately, Alison Myrden from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, was ill and unable to make our meeting.
Everyone enjoyed the meeting. Four people signed up as new members. The meeting was a great success.

Western Standard lists top 100 advocates for Liberty
Back in January Western Standard prepared a list of the top 100 Canadians who distinguished themselves in 2008, or over a lifetime, in the defence of liberty. Not too surprisingly, Ezra Levant, publisher of Western Standard magazine, was at the top of the list for his fight against human rights commissions and their attack on free speech. Number 8 was Dennis Young, leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada. Jean-Serge Brisson, Deputy Leader of the Ontario Libertarian Party and former leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada, was number 10 for his personal court cases against Ontario's seat belt laws and the mandatory bilingual sign bylaw in Russell. For a brief description of the top 25 names on the list, click here. If you are interested in the rest of the list, you can see names 26-50, 51-75, and 76-100. Several other members of the Libertarian Party are also included on the list.

Media Release: Libertarians declare it's time to clean up Toronto’s Trash (July 16, 2009)
Libertarians would solve Toronto’s trash problem with a simple solution: Allow private garbage collection and end the monopoly. This works in the former municipality of Etobicoke and the six municipalities surrounding Toronto. In 2007 the Ontario Waste Management Association advised Toronto City Council that they could save at least $10 million per year, and possibly as much as $30 million a year by contracting out Toronto’s residential waste collection! Read More
Click here to see other media releases.

The summer issue of Bulletin is available online. It includes a media release criticizing McGuinty's budget, a report on the Marijuana March and Toronto Freedom Festival by Jack Morawetz, and Doug Burn's editorial on the proposed coalition of the Liberals, Bloc and NDP Parties. Zork Hun writes an open letter to his MP criciizing the stimulus spending. Jean-Serge Brisson describes Mike Kennedy's latest appeal of his smoking conviction. Read it here. (Acrobat Reader required)

Libertarians "Mugged by Harper" writes Terence Corcoran in the National Post, April 30, 2009
Corcoran describes Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s address to the Manning Networking and Exhibition Conference March 12, 2009 as, “a rambling two-track message.” First he justified his Party’s un-conservative actions as, “compromises that have to do with basic reality." Or, as Corcoran says, they were mugged by reality. Then Corcoran describes Harper’s second track. “What followed was Mr. Harper's conscious rebuke of libertarianism. In fact, more words were spent undermining libertarians than liberals. Libertarians, he said, ‘believe that the solution to all problems lays in less government. More specifically, they believe in individual freedom, freedom from government, the freedom that does in fact underlie the market economy.’" Sounds pretty accurate, doesn’t it? But later, Harper “pretty much blamed libertarianism for the economic crisis. Wall Street, he implied mockingly, was the heart of libertarianism, and Wall Street and the libertarian free market tanked the economy,” reports Corcoran. Does Harper really believe this? Corcoran concludes with, “Do libertarians pose some kind of threat to the Harper Conservatives? Apparently they do, judging by Mr. Harper's attempt to eliminate them from the party. And he might be right.” Now that sounds like progress for the Libertarian Party. Read the complete Opinion piece here. You will find the complete text of Harpers speach at the end of Corcoran's article.

Libertarianism in a nutshell By Karen Selick in the National Post, April 7, 2009
"Libertarianism is the political philosophy occupying the top right-hand corner of the [Nolan Chart] graph," Writes Karen Selick. "We believe in maximizing individual freedom in both the economic and the social spheres. We believe in minimizing state interference in both spheres." Karen explains the two-dimension political map created by David Nolan and used in the World's Smallest Political Quiz developed by Advocates for Self-Government. She also explains that just because a libertarian would legalize drugs, prostitution and so on does not make them a libertine, since she, a libertarian, does not engage in or advocate such activities. Read the complete article here.

The spring issue of Bulletin is available online. Paolo Fabrizio runs against PC Leader John Tory in the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock By-election on March 5, 2009. Leader Sam Apelbaum discusses the current economic crisis and explains why he believes it will help the libertarian cause. Deputy Leader Jean-Serge Brisson describes his weekends "doing time." Treasurer Jim McIntosh provides the Annual Financial Report and 2009 Expense Budget. And we have announcements for the annual BBQ, Pub Nights in six locations, and John Stossel's ABC special. Read it here.  (Acrobat Reader required)

Jean Serg Brisson challenges Sign By-law in Russell Township. Jean-Serge Brisson, Deputy Leader of the Ontario Libertarian Party, was charged with violating the Sign By-law in Russell Township by changing his sign to be French only. He won his case and the township is now appealing. Jean-Serge is confident he will win this appeal as well. Watch his presentation to the Ottawa Pub Meeting on Saturday April 4, 2009.  (The presentation was taped in the South Side Bar and Grill, so there is some background noise.)

Help us fight for property rights. Mike Kennedy, one of our members, was convicted of allowing smoking in an enclosed public place.  That public place was a private, members only club!  Mike's appeal was heard January 3, 2008 and denied. He than appealed to the Appellate Court. Click here for details   (Video at left is 1 min 48 sec) Update: On May 6, 2009 Mike will appeal his case in Superior Court at Osgood Hall.

Libertarian Party covered in National Post Column in an article on raw milk in a column in the National Post. "The libertarian line of thought was echoed by another letter writer -- the communications director of the Ontario Libertarian Party," says columnist Paul Russell. He quotes Marty as saying, "A charge of ‘endangering the health of others’ is much more politically acceptable to voters than a charge of ‘refusing to allow bureaucrats to centrally plan the economy.’ ” Read more of Marty's comments by clicking here.