New Blue Party of Ontario

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New Blue Party of Ontario
LeaderJim Karahalios[1]
PresidentBelinda Karahalios[1]
FoundedOctober 12, 2020 (2020-10-12)
RegisteredJanuary 7, 2021
Split fromProgressive Conservative Party of Ontario
HeadquartersPO Box 20046, 355 Hespeler Road
Cambridge, Ontario
Ideology
ColoursBlue and gold
Seats in Legislature
1 / 124
Website
www.newblueontario.com

The New Blue Party of Ontario (abbr. New Blue;[2] French: Nouveau Parti Bleu de l'Ontario) is a political party in the Canadian province of Ontario. Founded in 2020, the party is led by Jim Karahalios, the husband of Belinda Karahalios, the party's first MPP.

History[]

Prior to the party's formation[]

In late 2017, Jim Karahalios, a corporate lawyer, was sued by the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario in retaliation for Karahalios's founding the activist groups "Axe The Carbon Tax" (opposing the party's pro-carbon tax position)[3] and "Take Back Our PC Party" (challenging the party's acceptance of nominations that resulted in allegations of electoral fraud).[4] Karahalios won the lawsuit when Superior Court Justice Paul Perell wrote a decision against the party ruling the lawsuit was a "strategic lawsuit against public participation” intended to stifle dissent.[5]

On March 1, 2018, Karahalios received an apology from interim leader of the PC Party, Vic Fedeli.[6] Robert Benzie, Queen's Park Bureau Chief of the Toronto Star, described Karahalios with the following:

Karahalios was instrumental in exposing problems at Tory candidate nomination elections, the policy-making process and other abuses of the party constitution ... Karahalios, a Cambridge corporate lawyer, has emerged as a conscience of the PC party. His crusade against Brown’s embrace of a carbon tax has been embraced by all the leadership hopefuls in the March 10 PC leadership contest.[7]

Nine days later, on March 10, 2018, Doug Ford was elected as leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario. His leadership campaign platform, and those of the other three candidates in the race, embraced the themes of Karahalios's "Axe the Carbon Tax" and "Take Back Our PC Party" campaigns.[8][9][10]

Following Ford's election as Ontario PC Party leader, Belinda Karahalios ran for the party's nomination in the riding of Cambridge. She won the nomination in just over two weeks[11] and in the 2018 Ontario election she was elected MPP for the riding as the Progressive Conservative candidate.[12]

In November 2018, Jim Karahalios ran for the presidency of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party and later filed a lawsuit against the party after his defeat, alleging the election process was manipulated, election rules were breached and that ballot boxes were allegedly stuffed in order to elect his competitor, Brian Patterson, who was endorsed by Doug Ford.[13]

In 2019, Belinda Karahalios introduced her first private member's bill – Bill 150, Ensuring Transparency and Integrity in Political Party Elections Act, 2019. [14] Ford initially indicated his government would oppose the bill[15] but by second reading the bill passed with the unanimous support of all MPPs in attendance at Queen's Park.[16]

In January 2020, Jim Karahalios announced he was running in the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election. By March 19, 2020, Karahalios was the third candidate in the race to raise the $300,000 in donations and 3,000 endorsement signatures the party required to have his name added to the ballot. On March 20, 2020, the party disqualified Karahalios from the race. On May 20, 2020, Superior Court Justice Paul Perell ruled Karahalios could re-enter the race but before Karahalios could pay the additional $100,000 fine imposed on him by the party's leadership committee, the party disqualified Karahalios from the race a second time.[17]

Two months later, on July 21, 2020, Belinda Karahalios was expelled from the Progressive Conservative caucus by Doug Ford after voting against Bill 195, the Reopening Ontario (A Flexible Response to COVID-19) Act, which would expand the government's emergency authority during the COVID-19 pandemic. Karahalios voted against the legislation, calling it an "unnecessary overreach on our parliamentary democracy."[18][19] A month later, Belinda Karahalios, her husband Jim, and 18 other members of the Ontario PC Party were removed from the Cambridge PC Riding Association Board as a result of the party executive, led by Brian Patterson, voting to "de-register" the riding association with Elections Ontario.[20]

After the party's formation[]

On October 12, 2020, Jim and Belinda Karahalios released a video announcing that they were forming a new political party, claiming that the Ontario PC Party was beyond redemption. Stating that there "is no party in the Ontario legislature defending the taxpayer, defending small business, defending places of worship, promoting freedom, promoting democracy or fighting political corruption."[21][22]

On January 7, 2021, the New Blue Party was officially registered by Elections Ontario. Party leader Jim Karahalios stated that the party would focus on supporting the taxpayer, places of worship and small business.[23]

References[]

  1. ^ a b "Registered Political Parties". Elections Ontario. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  2. ^ "Elections Ontario Registered Parties".
  3. ^ "Ontario needs a Plan B for fighting Trudeau's carbon tax — and this is it". financialpost. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  4. ^ "Sudbury by-election court decision could spell legal trouble for PC leader Patrick Brown | National Newswatch". www.nationalnewswatch.com. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  5. ^ "Party activist who opposed Patrick Brown gets apology from interim PC leader". thestar.com. March 1, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  6. ^ "Party activist who opposed Patrick Brown gets apology from interim PC leader". thestar.com. March 1, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  7. ^ "Party activist who opposed Patrick Brown gets apology from interim PC leader". thestar.com. March 1, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  8. ^ "FUREY: By not releasing carbon tax costs, Trudeau is just helping Doug Ford". torontosun. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  9. ^ "PressReader.com – Your favorite newspapers and magazines". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  10. ^ "Tories want to heal rifts after divisive leadership race". therecord.com. March 12, 2018. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  11. ^ "Cambridge finally has a PC candidate for the provincial election and it's Belinda Karahalios | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  12. ^ "PC Belinda Karahalios wins in Cambridge riding". CBC Kitchener-Waterloo, June 7, 2018.
  13. ^ D'Mello, Colin (October 17, 2019). "Lawsuit by Ontario Progressive Conservative member alleges 2018 party presidential election was flawed". CTV News. Retrieved October 17, 2019.
  14. ^ "Ensuring Transparency and Integrity in Political Party Elections Act, 2019". Legislative Assembly of Ontario. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  15. ^ D'Mello, Colin (November 27, 2019). "Ontario PC government will not support MPP's election transparency bill". Toronto. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  16. ^ "Bills to keep seniors together, make internal party elections more transparent pass second reading | CBC News". CBC. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  17. ^ "A day after court setback, Conservative Party again disqualifies Jim Karahalios from leadership race". nationalpost. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  18. ^ Benzie, Robert (July 21, 2020). "Doug Ford ejects Cambridge MPP from PC caucus for voting against COVID-19 bill". Toronto Star. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  19. ^ Sharkey, Jackie (July 21, 2020). "Cambridge MPP Belinda Karahalios booted from PC caucus after voting against COVID-19 emergency bill". CBC.
  20. ^ "Elections Ontario receives complaint from Cambridge PC Riding Association". KitchenerToday.com. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  21. ^ Brown, Desmond (November 8, 2020). "Ousted PC MPP Belinda Karahalios, husband Jim readying new party". CBCNews. Retrieved November 8, 2020.
  22. ^ "New Blue Party of Ontario". New Blue Party of Ontario. Retrieved February 12, 2021.
  23. ^ Booth, Laura (February 1, 2021). "Former Cambridge Conservative MPP Belinda Karahalios and husband register new political party". Waterloo Region Record. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
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