Ken Campbell (evangelist) - Politician

Politician

Campbell ran in elections at all levels in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in the provincial riding of St. George—St. David, which included the centre of Toronto's gay community clustered around Church and Wellesley streets. In 1984, following the acquittal of Dr. Henry Morgentaler, he founded a group called Choose Life Canada which picketed abortion clinics in Toronto and other Ontario cities. On one occasion, he attempted to conduct a "citizen's arrest" against provincial Attorney General Ian Scott, after Scott refused to shut down an abortion clinic run by Morgentaler . Campbell later ran against Scott in St. George—St. David as a candidate of the Family Coalition Party in the 1990 provincial election. He campaigned as a fringe candidate for Mayor of Toronto the following year, but urged voters to support June Rowlands rather than himself to prevent Jack Layton from winning.

He once ran for mayor of Milton, Ontario against long-time mayor Gordon Krantz to protest having to pay the education portion of his municipal property taxes. Campbell refused to pay on the basis that he disagreed with the school curriculum. Campbell sent Krantz a letter during the campaign, saying that if he were elected, he would be too busy to be mayor so he would "deputize" Krantz and have him do the job.

Campbell took over the near-moribund Social Credit Party of Canada in 1990, and ran in a by-election in Oshawa. He placed eighth, with 96 votes. Under Campbell, the party began to re-embrace traditional social credit theory after years of moving away from it. He also began the process of officially rebranding the party as the Christian Freedom Party. While it was still officially registered under the Social Credit name, he used the "Christian Freedom" name in most of his speeches. However,. However, the party was only able to field 10 candidates for the 1993 election--well short of the 50 required for a party to keep its registration—and was deregistered by Elections Canada in October 1993. As a result, Campbell was forced to run as an independent, finishing last in a field of six candidates in Oakville. He ran a final time, again as an independent, in a 1996 federal by-election in Hamilton East, finishing in fifth place with 287 votes.

After being deregistered, the party continued as an incorporated non-profit entity known as the "Social Credit Party of Canada, Incorporated". Campbell occasionally used it as a podium for his political activities in order to preserve his church's status as a religious charity.