History
The first leader of the party was Donald Pennell, who was previously a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the 1975 provincial election. He served as FCP leader from 1987 to 1997. Pennell subsequently campaigned for the Canadian Alliance in the 2000 federal election.
Pennell was replaced by Giuseppe Gori, who led the party from 1997 to October 2009. A leadership convention was held in Hamilton on October 24, 2009, to elect a new leader. Phil Lees was elected by acclamation.
The Family Coalition Party's strongest showing to date was in the 1990 provincial election, when it received over 100,000 votes. In 1990 several candidates received over 10% of the popular vote (the best was 13%) but the party ran only 76 candidates. Its support declined in the 1995 and 1999 elections, followed by a modest recovery in 2003 when it ran in 51 out of 103 ridings. The party nominated 83 candidates in the 107 ridings- for the 2007 Ontario election. In those 83 ridings, it obtained 1.045% of the votes, or 0.82% province-wide. None of its candidates have ever been elected to the Ontario legislature.
During the 1999 election, the party achieved a limited media attention by conducting a demonstration at Queen's Park featuring three "cloned sheep" to represent Progressive Conservative leader Mike Harris, Liberal leader Dalton McGuinty and New Democratic Party leader Howard Hampton. The FCP's intent was both to indicate their opposition to cloning technology, and to suggest that the major parties were identical in ignoring family issues.
Since the 2011 Ontario election, the FCP has been working on local advocacy campaigns around the province, most notably involving the challenge of the controversial Bill 13 anti-bullying legislation presented by the Ontario Liberal Party. FCP leader Phil Lees was a speaker at two Queen’s Park Bill 13 protest rallies in early 2012. The FCP states that it intends to become more active and visible between elections, to better represent what it calls the “traditional-principled” electorate in Ontario.
Read more about this topic: Family Coalition Party Of Ontario
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