What fringe candidates add to campaign
Giving people the ability to make statement is important, analysts say
You might not vote for them: the local Rhinoceros candidate named after a cat, the candidate who lives in San Francisco and can’t vote for himself, or the one running on a campaign promising she won’t be your MP.
There are pot enthusiasts, antiabortion supporters, communists, pirates and those who want to ban Canadian winters and nationalize Tim Hortons, but so-called fringe candidates are an essential part of Canadian democracy that help shape policy discussions and sometimes add levity to a très sérieux society, say political scientists.
“Fringe candidates can sometimes emerge into mainstream candidates,” said Mount Royal University policy studies professor Duane Bratt, remembering back to 1988 when the “extremist” Reform Party of Canada was clobbered. Five years later, the Reform “fringe” won 52 seats, just two fewer than the official opposition Bloc Québécois party. “People should have all sorts of choices on a ballot. One person’s fringe candidate might be an expression of principle for someone else.”
At one point, the Green party was considered on the edge, a singleissue party of environmental activists. But in this election, the party has a comprehensive platform with candidates in 336 of 338 ridings nationally, with 34 in Alberta, 10 in the Edmonton area. The MarxistLeninist Party of Canada has 70 candidates across Canada, seven running in Alberta with four in Edmonton, three in Calgary.
The Marijuana Party of Canada has eight candidates running across Canada with one in Edmonton-Griesbach who uses the cannabis plant for medical issues.
“The Marijuana (party) was seen as a joke party,” Bratt said. “And yet the issue they were actually trying to articulate is now a public policy debate. We are now discussing the legalization, decriminalization of marijuana. They put things on the political agenda.”
The Rhinocerous Party, with 39 candidates across Canada including three in the Edmonton area, certainly takes itself less seriously, with one local Rhino candidate aiming to bring the “party” back into “political party.” Another, Bun Bun Thompson (named after a cat), says his No. 1 priority is to tape autumn leaves back onto trees (although he said he put his name forward in part to see how the electoral system works).
Back in the ’70s, the Rhinos suggested selling off the Rocky Mountains to pay off the national debt. The party rocked into 1980 with a roster of 120 candidates nationwide, taking 110,000 votes.
“They were mocking the political system, but what is wrong with that?” Bratt said. “Sometimes we take ourselves too seriously. … Germany’s got a beer drinkers party. They don’t do well, but it doesn’t matter if you win. It’s about exercising your democratic right.”
As for turning people off with tongue-in-cheek antics?
“I think there’s a greater danger of mainstream parties turning people off than smaller candidates and fringe candidates,” Bratt said. “You might as well say that independents can’t run because independents would be even more fringy than a fringe party because there is only one candidate.”
Edmonton has five independent candidates, including former Conservative Brent Rathgeber.
Chaldeans Mensah, a political scientist at MacEwan University, said many fringe parties focus on one narrow area, so have difficulty attracting broad-based support. Think the Seniors Party of Canada (for those over 50), the Bridge Party of Canada (focused on generating conversation rather than votes), even the Christian Heritage Party.
“The chance of getting elected is minimal at best,” Mensah said. But that’s not the point. “If these fringe parties are able to garner a small segment of the population, it’s giving those individuals a choice. People can go to the ballot box and destroy their ballots or they can vote a fringe candidate and make a statement.”
One person’s fringe candidate might be an expression of principle for someone else.