Natural Law Party candidates, 1999 Ontario provincial election

The Ontario Natural Law Party ran a number of candidates in the 1999 provincial election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.

Mei Sze Viau (Brampton West—Mississauga)

Viau is a web designer and developer, and is the project manager of Creative Design Pixel. She has a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Hong Kong (1989), and in 2002 was awarded a Master of Arts degree in Digital Media from the Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. Viau is fluent in English and Cantonese. [http://www.creativepixeldesign.com/about.html]

She received 252 votes (0.57%), finishing fourth against Tony Clement of the Progressive Conservative Party.

Bob Hyman (Broadview—Greenwood)

Hyman, once a securities salesman, described himself in the 1990s as a meditation teacher and yogic flyer ("Toronto Star", 30 May 1997). He was an Ontario organizer for the Natural Law Party of Canada in 1993 and 1997, and also served as a director of the Maharishi Vedic College. In 1999, he was listed as Natural Law Party chairman ("Toronto Star", 22 October 1993, "Kitchener-Waterloo Record", 28 May 1999). A 1995 newspaper report lists him as thirty-eight years old ("Toronto Star", 5 June 1995).

Hyman campaigned for the federal and provincial Natural Law parties on four occasions, and was also the NLP candidate for Mayor of Toronto in 1994. On election night, he presented victorious candidate Barbara Hall with a garland of flowers ("Globe and Mail", 15 November 1994).

=Helene Anne Darisse (St. Catharines)=

Darisse received 272 votes (0.58%), finishing fourth against Liberal incumbent Jim Bradley.

=Bernard Fram (Sudbury)=

Bernard Fram received 184 votes (0.50%), finishing fourth against Liberal incumbent Rick Bartolucci.

Ron Robins (Trinity—Spadina)

Robins is a former Bay Street investment analyst, and a frequent candidate for the Natural Law Party. He has long been involved in the transcendental meditation movement, and was a TM instructor in Toronto as early as 1988 ("Toronto Star", 10 April 1988). Robins has worked in stress management and creativity consulting programs for several Canadian corporations.("Toronto Star", 22 October 1993). In 2004, he argued that ethical investment practices would yield higher financial returns ("National Post", 11 September 2004).

Robins first campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in the 1995 provincial election. During this campaign, he argued that transcendental meditation could be used in Ontario's prison population to reduce crime levels ("Toronto Star", 5 June 1995).

Janet Shorten (Windsor—St. Clair)

Shorten lived in Gloucester, near Ottawa, at the time of the election. ("Windsor Star", 21 May 1999). She received 159 votes (0.41%), finishing sixth against Liberal Dwight Duncan.

Lynn Tobin (Windsor West)

Tobin campaigned as a candidate of the Natural Law Party of Canada in the 1993 federal election, and received 370 votes in the Newfoundland riding of Bonavista—Trinity—Conception. The winner was Fred Mifflin of the Liberal Party of Canada. At the time of the election, Tobin listed herself as a health-care professional living in Huntsville.

She received 162 votes (0.44%) in the 1999 provincial election, finishing sixth against Liberal candidate Sandra Pupatello. She lived in Ottawa at the time of the election ("Windsor Star", 21 May 1999).

Footnotes