By Heather Taylor-Singh
In a poll conducted by the Ryerson School of Journalism, 5.1 per cent of students said they would not vote for any of the four major parties of Ontario.
There are currently 16 fringe political parties in Ontario. Fringe parties are a type of political party that is starting to cater to specific interests groups in Ontario.
A fringe party is a term used to describe the more non-established and non-mainstream parties in the provincial political sphere.
Here is a bit of information about five fringe parties and their platforms.
Communist Party of Canada (Ontario)
Founded in 1921, the party describes themselves as a “small party with big ideas”. They are a part of the working class and stand alongside anyone who is engaged in a progressive struggle such as, Indigenous people, women and students. The party, led by Dave McKee stems from ideology based on Marxism-Leninism, reflecting on people fighting for socialism in the province.
Founded in 2014, and led by Dennis Valenta, this party is a minor fathers’ rights political party in Ontario. The party is defined as a single-issue party. It focuses on the inequality in Ontario family law that target fathers, such as fathers divorce proceedings, specifically regarding the custody and access to children.
Party for People with Special Needs Party
Founded in 2007, their slogan is “When we help people with disabilities, we help everybody.” Their current goal is to have a five-year suspension of the 10-year tax deadline, which includes the backlogging of people’s disabilities. In order to allow their community to communicate with a large amount of people who struggle with disabilities and regain what they have lost. The party is currently run by Danish Ahmed and John Rubino.
Founded in 2011, the party was started by homeless man and perennial candidate Kevin Clarke. The platform of the party is largely populist, meaning they value the interaction with a middle-class group of people versus elitists. What the party wants to achieve is being able to “focus on the service of government with people-oriented processes, supporting the needs of humanity.”
Founded in 2011, the party is led by Paul Figueiras. This party is focused on helping animals, the environment and social justice in the city. Their main goal is for vegan people to end all government funding for animal agriculture and implement a subsidy and training program to assist in the transition of those currently involved in animal agriculture to plant based agriculture or other employment.
The poll was conducted by Ryerson School of Journalism students. They surveyed 567 full-time students at Ryerson University between Oct. 6 to Oct. 19.
The poll carries a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points, 19 times out of 20.
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