Canadians' Choice Party | |
|---|---|
| Active provincial party | |
 | |
| Abbreviation | CCP |
| Leader | Bahman Yazdanfar |
| President | Bahman Yazdanfar[1] |
| Founded | August 26, 2011 |
| Headquarters | 1-927 Danforth Ave, Toronto ON M4J 1L8[2] |
| Seats in Legislature | 0 / 107
|
| Website | |
| canadianschoice | |
The Canadians′ Choice Party (CCP) is a minor political party based in Ontario, Canada. The party is led by Bahman Yazdanfar.[2]
History
The Canadians' Choice Party was founded on August 26, 2011 by Bahman Yazdanfar of Toronto.[3] Yazdanfar, who immigrated to Canada from Iran in 1986, ran a small consulting firm for businesses until 2008, when the global economic recession caused him to close.[4] After the failure of his business, Yazdanfar began a talk show on YouTube which interviewed subjects ranging from mainstream local figures to political extremists.[4]
In 2015, in response to public outcry over Your Ward News, a local newspaper delivered to households in The Beaches that was banned by Canada Post for carrying antisemitic and racist content, Yazdanfar supported the publication, buying advertising in it and decrying the Ontario government's laying of criminal charges against the publication's publisher and editor for hate speech.[3]
The party failed to win any seats in the 2022 Ontario general election.
Platform
The party bills itself as a "party of independents" and offers very few barriers for entry.[5] To run as a candidate for the party, a candidate has to:
- Show responsibility first to the riding they represent when they become MPP.
- Show commitment to stay in the Canadians' Choice Party for the entire mandate once elected.
- Not cross the floor.[6]
On its website, the party supports four priorities:[6]
- Fiscal responsibility and respect for taxpayers,
- Individual freedom and the right to free speech,
- Sovereignty and protection of common-law rights,
- Transparency and accountability in government.
It also calls for the ability to recall elected officials and calls for more referendums.[6]
Controversy and associations with Neo-Nazism
The party's position on unfettered free speech has caused controversy in the 2018 provincial election when several of its candidates were found to be associated with the neo-Nazi movement in Canada. James Sears, who ran in the riding of Ottawa Centre, is the editor of the far-right newspaper, Your Ward News, and claims to be an adherent of Nazism.[7][8]
Among the party's other notable candidates were Paul Fromm, a prominent Canadian white supremacist, who ran in Etobicoke Centre in 2018, and Leslie Bory, a Brantford-based Holocaust denier and conspiracy theorist convicted of spreading online hate, who ran in Brantford—Brant in both 2018 and 2022.[9]
Electoral results
| Election year | Party Leader | No. of overall votes |
% of overall total |
No. of candidates run |
No. of seats won |
+/− | Government |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Bahman Yazdanfar | 156 | < .01% | 3 / 107 |
0 / 107 |
New Party | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2014 | 1,293 | 0.03% | 4 / 107 |
0 / 107 |
 0.03% |
Extra-parliamentary | |
| 2018 | 1,239 | 0.02% | 5 / 124 |
0 / 124 |
 0.01% |
Extra-parliamentary | |
| 2022 | 568 | 0.01% | 2 / 124 |
0 / 124 |
0.01% |
Extra-parliamentary | |
| 2025 | 582 | 0.01% | 2 / 124 |
0 / 124 |
 |
Extra-parliamentary |
In the 2011 Ontario general election, the Canadians' Choice Party nominated three candidates for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
| Riding | Candidate's Name | Notes | Votes | % | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Centre | Bahman Yazdanfar | Party Leader | 19 | 0.04% | 10/10 |
| St. Catharines | Jon Radick | 62 | 0.14% | 7/8 | |
| Toronto—Danforth | John Richardson | 75 | 0.2% | 9/9 |
In the 2014 election, Yazdanfar and Richardson ran again, this time joined by Dorian Baxter, perennial candidate for the Progressive Canadian Party.
| Riding | Candidate's Name | Notes | Votes | % | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Toronto Centre | Bahman Yazdanfar | Party Leader | 78 | 0.15% | 11/11 |
| Scarborough—Guildwood | John Sawdon | 120 | 0.34% | 7/7 | |
| Newmarket—Aurora | Dorian Baxter | 922 | 1.76% | 5/7 | |
| Toronto—Danforth | John Richardson | 167 | 0.4% | 7/10 |
In the 2018 election, the party ran five candidates:
| Riding | Candidate's Name | Notes | Votes | % | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Beaches—East York | Bahman Yazdanfar | Party Leader | 74 | 0.14% | 9/11 |
| Barrie—Innisfil | Jake Tucker | 184 | 0.42% | 6/8 | |
| Brantford—Brant | Leslie Bory | 253 | 0.44% | 8/9 | |
| Etobicoke Centre | Paul Fromm | 631 | 1.10% | 5/7 | |
| Ottawa Centre | James Sears | 92 | 0.14% | 8/8 |
References
- "Registered Political Parties". Elections Ontario. Retrieved 23 July 2023.
- "Registered Political Parties in Ontario". Archived from the original on 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
- "Submit your nomination, before fundraising, and accepting donations". www.canadianschoice.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- "Bahman Yazdanfar". www.canadianschoice.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- "Fringe parties add spice to Ontario election despite no hope of seats". CityNews Toronto. 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- "Get voters throughout your riding, and persuade them to vote for you". www.canadianschoice.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- Delamont, Kieran (2018-05-17). "Ottawa Centre candidates set to square off at community debate". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- Crawford, Blair (2018-05-10). "Hate crime charge hangs over Ottawa Centre candidate". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
- Gamble, Susan (2025-01-17). "Brantford man found guilty of threats, inciting hatred". Brantford Expositor. Retrieved 2025-01-26.