Communist Party of Canada (Ontario) candidates, 1987 Ontario provincial election

The Communist Party of Canada - Ontario ran a number of candidates in the 1987 provincial election, who were all defeated. Information about these candidates may be found here.

Eric Blair (St. Catharines)

Blair was an activist in the Communist Party of Canada, and a perennial candidate for public office. He was a featured speaker at the 35th anniversary of the Canadian Peace Congress in 1984.[1] In 1977, he wrote a letter to a local St. Catharines paper supporting French-Canadian self-determination, while rejecting Quebec separatism (reprinted in the Canadian Tribune, 4 April 1977).

He first ran for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1977 provincial election, and received 247 votes (0.78%) in St. Catharines to finish fourth against Liberal candidate Jim Bradley. He campaigned again in the 1985 and 1987 elections, and again lost to Bradley on both occasions. Blair received 305 votes (0.86%) in 1985, and 369 votes (1.33%) in 1987.

He campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons in the 1988 federal election, and finished fourth in the federal St. Catharines riding with 241 votes. The winner was Ken Atkinson of the Progressive Conservative Party. At the time, Blair described himself as retired.

There is no known connection between this Eric Blair and the British author Eric Blair, better known as George Orwell.