Candidates
British Columbia
Harjit Singh Daudharia
Newton-North Delta
Harjit Daudharia is well known as a writer, an anti-war activist and a defender of the rights of seniors and immigrant workers. He is a member of the Council of Senior Citizens Organizations, the Punjabi Writers Forum and the Fraser Valley Peace Committee. A retired trade unionist, he edited “Darshan”, the book of writings by and about Darshan Singh Sangha (Canadian), the early IWA organizer who was later an elected Communist in Punjab.
Kimball Cariou
Vancouver Kingsway
A former labourer and political organizer, Kimball Cariou is the 54-year old editor of People’s Voice newspaper, published in east Vancouver. Kimball is active in the anti-war movement and in struggles to defend the rights of Aboriginal people, women, immigrants, and the LGBT community.
George Gidora
Burnaby-Douglas
A Communist from the age of 17, George is the BC provincial leader of the CPC. Now 54 and the father of two, he is a trade union member and a computer professional. He is active in the Fraser Valley Peace Committee, and believes in real change leading to a socialist society.
Mark Haley
Kelowna-Lake Country
A local food producer for over twenty years, Mark raised four children in Kelowna.Mark’s commitment to the peace movement began during the Viet Nam War. Mark is an enthusiastic advocate of solidarity with Cuba and of Latin America’s resistance to US domination.
Alberta
Jason Devine
Calgary East
Jason Devine is 28 years old and was born and raised in Calgary. He is newly married and has four children. He is a full-time student at the University of Calgary and is in his fourth year of studying History. He is a member of Anti-Racist Action Calgary and is also active in the anti-war movement, among other social justice movements.
Naomi Rankin
Edmonton-Mill Woods-Beaumont
Naomi Rankin is 56, married with two children, and has lived in Edmonton since 1964. She began her political activism at the age of 15 organizing student demonstrations and peace marches. She was a founding member of the Women's Studies Centre at the UofA and of Edmonton Working Women. She is a computer programmer and has been leader of the Communist Party - Alberta since 1992.
Manitoba
Lisa Gallagher
Brandon-Souris
Lisa Gallagher is mother of five and a Brandon University grad. Since moving to Brandon in 1996, Lisa has worked to end poverty, oppose war and support Aboriginal rights. “We are in this campaign to win support for our vision of a better world,” says Lisa. “It’s time to stop electing politicians who bow down to big business!” Lisa is a member of the Waywayseecappo First Nation.
Frank Komarniski
Winnipeg North
Frank Komarniski is a father of four children and a grandfather of one. For the last 14 years he has worked for the City of Winnipeg, where he is a member of CUPE Local 500. “Socialism would make society much fairer.” Frank was born in St. Rose du Lac, Manitoba, grew up in Thompson and moved to Winnipeg in 1982.
Darrell Rankin
Winnipeg Centre
Darrell Rankin is in a family of nine, including a son and step-children. He has been the Manitoba leader of the Communist Party for 12 years and a leading CPC member since 1992. “Harper and his corporate cronies are destroying Canada. They must be stopped.” Active in different movements, he was chair and treasurer of the Canadian Peace Alliance. Darrell joined the Communist Party in 1978.
Ontario
Johan Boyden
Toronto Centre
Johan is leader of the Young Communist League, campaigning for peace and against campus military recruitment, raising minimum wages, expanding LGBTQ rights, and freedom for the Toronto 18, some in solitary confinement for two years+ without trial. “Massive public pressure from youth, tenants, immigrants, unions and all progressive movements can abolish racial profiling, eliminate tuition fees, and win public housing.”
Miguel Figueroa
Davenport
Miguel is the leader of the Communist Party of Canada, first elected in 1993. He led the Party to a major legal and political victory when the Supreme Court struck down sections of the Elections Act which infringed on free speech and threatened the continued existence of all small parties.
Drew Garvie
Guelph
Drew Garvie is a recent graduate from the University of Guelph, music teacher and Young Communist League. Drew supports the CFS Drop Fees Campaign, and calls for eliminating tuition, massively increasing funding, and stopping military recruitment and privatization on campus. Drew actively protests Canada’s war in Afghanistan, and a supporter of the Six Nations reclamation in Caledonia. People and nature before profits!
Sam Hammond
St. Catherines
Sam Hammond is a retired industrial worker and life-long labour activist and journalist. He has been campaigning for labour and socal justice over the last forty years and is focusing on the one million jobs lost from NAFTA and the loss of the Auto Pact.
Catherine Holliday
Don Valley West
Catharine has worked as a front-line nurse for over 40 years. As an adult part-time student she earned a degree in Political Science and Philosophy. Active in nurses union, anti-racism and social justice movements. “Make the rich pay, not the poor” says Cathy. “Put police, prisons and CISIS under civilian control.”
Dimitrios (Jim) Kabitsis
Brampton-Springdale
Dimitrios (Jim) Kabitsis has lived in Toronto and central Ontario for almost 50 years. He has 2 daughters, one son and 7 grandchildren. A member of the Party's Ontario Committee, Jim has fought to save and expand universal medicare, for quality universal public and post-secondary education accessible to all, and for Canada's withdrawal from Afghanistan. Jim is an active member of Fair Vote Canada.
Alex McDonald
Ottawa West-Nepean
Alex works as a taxi driver in a small community near Ottawa. In the past he has represented Diamond Taxi drivers as a shop steward and on the Ottawa and District Labour Council, represented the Renfrew Adult High School teachers on the District Council, fought the Harris regime through "Stop the Cuts Coalition", and worked for nuclear disarmament through the Ottawa Peace Council.
Ramon Portillo
Kitchener Waterloo
Ramon came to Canada 1985 with his family from El Salvador, where he worked in social work, agriculture, and as a teacher. He moved to Canada because of his opposition to the injustice in El Salvador. Ramon is currently a writer and a promoter of human rights in Spanish and English. He is active in the community and is happily married with three boys and one girl.
Elizabeth Rowley
Windsor West
A former Public School Trustee, Elizabeth strongly opposes the free trade deals which threaten manufacturing jobs, medicare, and public education. “We need a made-in-Canada industrial policy to create jobs and a Canadian car that is fuel efficient and environmentally sustainable”, Rowley says. “Curb corporate power, protect jobs, living standards, social programs, and labour and democratic rights. Enact plant closure legislation with teeth”.
Ryan Sparrow
Hamilton Centre
Ryan Sparrow works in customer service in downtown Hamilton, part of the new low-pay industry replacing manufacturing jobs. A May Day organized by Steelworkers Local 1005 – where they rallied for "No Concessions!" against bankruptcy protection fraud by Stelco management – first inspired him into political action. Ryan hopes to spare no efforts fighting the corporate nation-wrecker from destroying Canadian manufacturing and running away with billions.
Martin Suter
Kitchener Centre
Martin is a three-time candidate for the Communist Party in Kitchener Centre. He is a 54 year old former long-distance truck driver currently on an ODSP disability pension. He is active in fighting for labour rights, in anti-poverty work and internet communications.
Quebec
Antonio Artuso
Mount Royal
Antonio, 63 years old, a professional translator and interpreter, is a longstanding activist in the movement of international solidarity and peace. He is a member of the National Committee of the Parti Communiste du Québec and alternate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Canada.
Marianne Breton Fontaine
Hochelaga
A photography student at Cégep du Vieux-Montreal, Marianne Breton Fontaine works for her Student Union as a Secretary. But her main activity is within the Young Communist League of Quebec, where she has been an organizer for the past two years. She is also active in the peace movement with Échec à la Guerre, in solidarity with Cuba through the Caravan of Friendship with Quebec-Cuba, and in Québec Solidaire, where she holds the post of delegate for the Hochelaga-Maisonneuve Committee for Women.
Samie Pagé-Quirion
Laurier - Sainte-Marie
Samie is a student in sociology focusing on feminist studies at the University of Quebec at Montreal. She participated in a journey of international cooperation to Cuba with the agency ARO International in 2006, and has traveled to several regions in Latin America, primarily in Mexico. She has also traveled in Europe and Western Canada. She has worked in Amnesty International and participated in events organized by la Table de concertation et solidarité Québec-Cuba. She is a member of the Young Communist League.
Bill Sloan
Westmount-Ville Marie
Proud son of one of Quebec’s first feminists, Laurette Cretien, Bill, has been a lawyer for 25 years representing refugees and immigrants, challenging the courts when demonstrators are arrested. He has travelled on more than a dozen Human Rights missions in South America, Asia, Europe and the Caribbean. Organiser of anti-WAR demonstrations since the 1960's, he played rugby until age 40, basketball until age 52. Bill cycles to work and is a gourmet Chef & foodie.