National Party of Canada
Encyclopedia
The National Party of Canada was a short-lived Canadian
political party
that contested the 1993 federal election
. The party should not be confused by an earlier and unrelated National Party that was founded in 1979.
(best-known as publisher of The Canadian Encyclopedia
), the National Party was created in 1992 to oppose the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, an increase in continentalism
, and the privatization
policies of the Progressive Conservative
government of Brian Mulroney
. The party ran in the 1993 election on a platform of economic nationalism
, lowering the value of the Canadian dollar
relative to the American to encourage exports, and social responsibility.
An important platform in the National Party's campaign was the idea that electoral campaigns should be funded by individual Canadians each contributing a small amount each year, thus taking away what the National Party considered was the undue influence of large, multinational corporations funding political campaigns.
and the Reform Party
, the National Party failed to win a seat.
The party nominated 171 candidates who won a total of 189,778 votes (1.40% of the popular votes, or 2.34% of the votes in those 171 ridings). None were elected, although Hurtig won 12.8% of the votes in his riding, Edmonton Northwest
. The other top nine candidates:
Thirteen other candidates exceeded 4%, and another 18 exceeded 3%. Even the lowest-placing candidate, with 2.89%, received a higher percentage than the national share of the Green Party of Canada
.
During the election, the party sued the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
to try to force it to allow Hurtig to participate in the leaders' debates, but was not successful.
, disagreed about the direction the party was taking. Hurtig and Loewen developed rival factions within the party, and battled for control.
Meanwhile, plans for internal elections continued and were carried out at the June 1994 Convention. Loewen ran a slate of candidates that he supported in an effort to regain control of the party, including Kurt Loeb as party leader and Daniel Whetung as President. Loeb, National Party candidate in 1993 in the Toronto
-area riding of York Centre
, reportedly sought the leadership on an interim basis, to hold a new leadership convention within about 18 months. Whetung was a relative unknown at the time. Party members were reportedly dissatisfied with the incumbent President, Andy Boyle, who was defeated by Whetung. Hurtig defeated Loeb. Loewen called for the vote to be made unanimous to demonstrate party unity.
Loewen, a Fellow of the Certified General Accountants Association, (Mr. Loewen, removed from Party's Board of Directors by the Ontario Court of Justice, in early 1994, was never a member of the Party's National Council) publicly claimed to have launched several legal challenges to recover a purported $610,000 in unaccounted Party funds and assist Whetung with wresting control of the Party from its duly elected National Council. Though Loewen's name is repeatedly found throughout the hundreds of court filings, none of the related legal proceedings included Loewen as a plaintiff (Court Records). Headed by Daniel Whetung, the seven legal actions variously included Jacques Rubacha, Shirley Demaine, Diane Ullrich, Wayne Hill, Steve Ranta, and Garry Hollingsworth. None of the seven legal actions were successful for the Plaintiffs. However the cost of defending the Party from the seven legal actions, which did not appear to originate with Loewen, bankrupted the party.
In the words of Mdme Justice Dorgan, of the British Columbia Supreme Court (Victoria Registry, File 94 4041), regarding the unaccounted funds, there was "no merit in Mr. Whetung's claims".
The claim of missing funds, highly publicized in the media, was the cornerstone of Loewen's complaints. Those claims were pursued by Whetung. Documents, purported to be the Party's financial statements, and provided to Daniel Whetung were filed as evidence of missing funds in the British Columbia Supreme Court. The evidence contained a large (6 digits) duplicate entry, that was not supported by any accompanying financial documentation, and misrepesented the Party's financial position. Whetung's legal Counsel resigned after the duplicate entry was revealed to the satisfaction of the court.
With new counsel the Whetung group called for, and offered to pay for, a forensic audit of party finances. However, the Party had already placed what financial records it had with a forensic auditor earlier that year. The auditors were unable to complete an audit, as there were too many missing records. Whetung, while stating in the Federal Court proceeding that he was unaware of any of the Party's financial records, admitted in the BC Supreme Court to having the financial records that were needed to complete the audit. The BC Supreme Court ordered him to deliver what records he controlled to the auditors, and to pay for the audit. According to the Party's auditors not enough of the missing records were delivered to provide an opinion. Payment for their work was never received from the Plaintiffs.
After much work by volunteers, financial records meeting the requirements set by Elections Canada were provided to the Chief Elector Officer, prior to the de-registration of the Party.
The Whetung faction was represented by top law firms at both the provincial and federal levels. The National Council, short of funds, was represented by the Party's President and Chief Agent, William Stephenson. Treasurer, Michael Kim Stebner, and Leader, Paul Reid. All challenges to the National Council by Whetung's group failed from lack of merit. Costs awarded to the National Council have not been paid. The final court challenge at the Federal Court of Appeal failed on September 10, 1998 (Court file number A-1056-96). In an unprecedented move, the three member Federal Appeal Court delivered their decision from the bench in favour of the National Council, rejecting, outright, all claims by Whetung and the other plaintiffs.
Although party membership continued to grow after the 1993 election, the seven meritless court challenges having damaged the brand and the Party's finances, the National Party of Canada was prevented from promoting the Party's agenda or to contest any further elections. In June 1997, Canada's Chief Electoral Officer
officially de-registered the party.
Some members of the Whetung group, and one of the group's legal counsel ran as candidates for other parties during the litigation to wrest control of the Party from the Party's National Council and members.
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
political party
Political party
A political party is a political organization that typically seeks to influence government policy, usually by nominating their own candidates and trying to seat them in political office. Parties participate in electoral campaigns, educational outreach or protest actions...
that contested the 1993 federal election
Canadian federal election, 1993
The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
. The party should not be confused by an earlier and unrelated National Party that was founded in 1979.
Formation
Founded and led by Edmonton publisher Mel HurtigMel Hurtig
Mel Hurtig, is a Canadian publisher, author, political activist and former political candidate.He was born and raised in Edmonton, Alberta. He is the former president of the Edmonton Art Gallery.-Businessman and Publisher:...
(best-known as publisher of The Canadian Encyclopedia
The Canadian Encyclopedia
The Canadian Encyclopedia is a source of information on Canada. It is available online, at no cost. The Canadian Encyclopedia is available in both English and French and includes some 14,000 articles in each language on a wide variety of subjects including history, popular culture, events, people,...
), the National Party was created in 1992 to oppose the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement, an increase in continentalism
Continentalism
Continentalism refers to the agreements or policies that favor the regionalization and/or cooperation between nations within a continent. The term is used more often in the European and North American contexts, but the concept has been applied to other continents including Australia, Africa and...
, and the privatization
Privatization
Privatization is the incidence or process of transferring ownership of a business, enterprise, agency or public service from the public sector to the private sector or to private non-profit organizations...
policies of the Progressive Conservative
Progressive Conservative Party of Canada
The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada was a Canadian political party with a centre-right stance on economic issues and, after the 1970s, a centrist stance on social issues....
government of Brian Mulroney
Brian Mulroney
Martin Brian Mulroney, was the 18th Prime Minister of Canada from September 17, 1984, to June 25, 1993 and was leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada from 1983 to 1993. His tenure as Prime Minister was marked by the introduction of major economic reforms, such as the Canada-U.S...
. The party ran in the 1993 election on a platform of economic nationalism
Economic nationalism
Economic nationalism is a term used to describe policies which emphasize domestic control of the economy, labor and capital formation, even if this requires the imposition of tariffs and other restrictions on the movement of labor, goods and capital. It opposes globalization in many cases, or at...
, lowering the value of the Canadian dollar
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
relative to the American to encourage exports, and social responsibility.
An important platform in the National Party's campaign was the idea that electoral campaigns should be funded by individual Canadians each contributing a small amount each year, thus taking away what the National Party considered was the undue influence of large, multinational corporations funding political campaigns.
1993 elections
While the election was successful for two other new parties, the Bloc QuébécoisBloc Québécois
The Bloc Québécois is a federal political party in Canada devoted to the protection of Quebec's interests in the House of Commons of Canada, and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was originally a party made of Quebec nationalists who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative...
and the Reform Party
Reform Party of Canada
The Reform Party of Canada was a Canadian federal political party that existed from 1987 to 2000. It was originally founded as a Western Canada-based protest party, but attempted to expand eastward in the 1990s. It viewed itself as a populist party....
, the National Party failed to win a seat.
The party nominated 171 candidates who won a total of 189,778 votes (1.40% of the popular votes, or 2.34% of the votes in those 171 ridings). None were elected, although Hurtig won 12.8% of the votes in his riding, Edmonton Northwest
Edmonton Northwest
Edmonton Northwest was a federal electoral district in Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 1997.It was created in 1987 from parts of Edmonton East, Edmonton North, Edmonton West and Pembina ridings...
. The other top nine candidates:
| Riding | Province | Candidate | % of vote |
| Kootenay West—Revelstoke Kootenay West—Revelstoke Kootenay West—Revelstoke was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 1997. This riding was created in 1987 from Kootenay West riding... |
British Columbia | Bev Collins | 8.54% |
| Elk Island Elk Island (electoral district) Elk Island was a federal electoral district in the province of Alberta, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 2004.- Demographics :-History:The electoral district was created in 1987 from Pembina and Vegreville ridings.... |
Alberta | James Keith Steinhubl | 8.19% |
| Vancouver Centre Vancouver Centre Vancouver Centre is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1917.-Geography:... |
British Columbia | Thorsten Ewald | 7.99% |
| Skeena Skeena (electoral district) Skeena was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 2004.-Geography:This was a rural, mostly wilderness, riding in northwestern B.C... |
British Columbia | Isaac Sobol | 7.72% |
| Winnipeg South Centre Winnipeg South Centre Winnipeg South Centre is a federal electoral district in Manitoba, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1925 to 1979 and since 1988.-Geography:... |
Manitoba | Bill Loewen | 7.385% |
| North Island—Powell River North Island—Powell River North Island—Powell River was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1988 to 1997. This riding was created in 1987 from parts of Comox—Powell River riding... |
British Columbia | Mark A. Grenier | 7.34% |
| Victoria Victoria (electoral district) Victoria is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1904 and since 1925.... |
British Columbia | Cecilia Mavrow | 7.00% |
| Vancouver Quadra Vancouver Quadra Vancouver Quadra is a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1949.... |
British Columbia | W.J. Willy Spat | 6.39% |
| Comox—Alberni Comox—Alberni Comox—Alberni was a federal electoral district in British Columbia, Canada, that was represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1917 to 1979.This riding was created in 1914 from parts of Comox—Atlin riding.... |
British Columbia | Ernest Daley | 6.05% |
Thirteen other candidates exceeded 4%, and another 18 exceeded 3%. Even the lowest-placing candidate, with 2.89%, received a higher percentage than the national share of the Green Party of Canada
Green Party of Canada
The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...
.
During the election, the party sued the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
to try to force it to allow Hurtig to participate in the leaders' debates, but was not successful.
Internal dissent
After the 1993 election, Hurtig and the party's chief financial backer, Winnipeg entrepreneur Bill LoewenBill Loewen
William H. "Bill" Loewen is an entrepreneur, philanthropist and political activist in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.Loewen was raised in Elkhorn, Manitoba, and later moved to Winnipeg. His wife Shirley Loewen is a prominent figure in the Winnipeg arts community. His nephew John Loewen is a former...
, disagreed about the direction the party was taking. Hurtig and Loewen developed rival factions within the party, and battled for control.
Meanwhile, plans for internal elections continued and were carried out at the June 1994 Convention. Loewen ran a slate of candidates that he supported in an effort to regain control of the party, including Kurt Loeb as party leader and Daniel Whetung as President. Loeb, National Party candidate in 1993 in the Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
-area riding of York Centre
York Centre
York Centre is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1904 to 1917 and since 1953....
, reportedly sought the leadership on an interim basis, to hold a new leadership convention within about 18 months. Whetung was a relative unknown at the time. Party members were reportedly dissatisfied with the incumbent President, Andy Boyle, who was defeated by Whetung. Hurtig defeated Loeb. Loewen called for the vote to be made unanimous to demonstrate party unity.
Dissolution
Even with Hurtig's decisive win in the June 1994 convention, internal divisions continued. Shortly after the convention Whetung unilaterally attempted to change the official and legal records of the Party at Elections Canada, naming himself as Party Leader and replacing recognized National Council members with self appointed supporters. His attempt to affect a change in the membership of the National Council was rejected by Elections Canada. Hurtig resigned the leadership hoping to avoid the scandal and cost of the litigation that followed.Loewen, a Fellow of the Certified General Accountants Association, (Mr. Loewen, removed from Party's Board of Directors by the Ontario Court of Justice, in early 1994, was never a member of the Party's National Council) publicly claimed to have launched several legal challenges to recover a purported $610,000 in unaccounted Party funds and assist Whetung with wresting control of the Party from its duly elected National Council. Though Loewen's name is repeatedly found throughout the hundreds of court filings, none of the related legal proceedings included Loewen as a plaintiff (Court Records). Headed by Daniel Whetung, the seven legal actions variously included Jacques Rubacha, Shirley Demaine, Diane Ullrich, Wayne Hill, Steve Ranta, and Garry Hollingsworth. None of the seven legal actions were successful for the Plaintiffs. However the cost of defending the Party from the seven legal actions, which did not appear to originate with Loewen, bankrupted the party.
In the words of Mdme Justice Dorgan, of the British Columbia Supreme Court (Victoria Registry, File 94 4041), regarding the unaccounted funds, there was "no merit in Mr. Whetung's claims".
The claim of missing funds, highly publicized in the media, was the cornerstone of Loewen's complaints. Those claims were pursued by Whetung. Documents, purported to be the Party's financial statements, and provided to Daniel Whetung were filed as evidence of missing funds in the British Columbia Supreme Court. The evidence contained a large (6 digits) duplicate entry, that was not supported by any accompanying financial documentation, and misrepesented the Party's financial position. Whetung's legal Counsel resigned after the duplicate entry was revealed to the satisfaction of the court.
With new counsel the Whetung group called for, and offered to pay for, a forensic audit of party finances. However, the Party had already placed what financial records it had with a forensic auditor earlier that year. The auditors were unable to complete an audit, as there were too many missing records. Whetung, while stating in the Federal Court proceeding that he was unaware of any of the Party's financial records, admitted in the BC Supreme Court to having the financial records that were needed to complete the audit. The BC Supreme Court ordered him to deliver what records he controlled to the auditors, and to pay for the audit. According to the Party's auditors not enough of the missing records were delivered to provide an opinion. Payment for their work was never received from the Plaintiffs.
After much work by volunteers, financial records meeting the requirements set by Elections Canada were provided to the Chief Elector Officer, prior to the de-registration of the Party.
The Whetung faction was represented by top law firms at both the provincial and federal levels. The National Council, short of funds, was represented by the Party's President and Chief Agent, William Stephenson. Treasurer, Michael Kim Stebner, and Leader, Paul Reid. All challenges to the National Council by Whetung's group failed from lack of merit. Costs awarded to the National Council have not been paid. The final court challenge at the Federal Court of Appeal failed on September 10, 1998 (Court file number A-1056-96). In an unprecedented move, the three member Federal Appeal Court delivered their decision from the bench in favour of the National Council, rejecting, outright, all claims by Whetung and the other plaintiffs.
Although party membership continued to grow after the 1993 election, the seven meritless court challenges having damaged the brand and the Party's finances, the National Party of Canada was prevented from promoting the Party's agenda or to contest any further elections. In June 1997, Canada's Chief Electoral Officer
Chief Electoral Officer (Canada)
The Chief Electoral Officer is the person responsible for overseeing elections in Canada.The position of Chief Electoral Officer was created in 1920 by the Dominion Elections Act. The Chief Electoral Officer is appointed by a resolution of the Canadian House of Commons...
officially de-registered the party.
Some members of the Whetung group, and one of the group's legal counsel ran as candidates for other parties during the litigation to wrest control of the Party from the Party's National Council and members.