Marijuana Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election

The Marijuana Party of Canada fielded several candidates in the 2006 federal election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found here.

Note: The following list is not complete.

Ontario

James Bender (Oxford)

James Bender(b.1964) is self made, operating [http://www.LadyGodivas.ca] Lady Godivas in Woodstock, Ontario, as well as The Ganja Tree" in Woodstock, Ontario.. Bender has been involved in social protest for many years in several areas. He is a proponent of legal marijuana,regulated by the government with similar control and distribution mechanisms in place in order to stabilize the industry, removing it from the paradigm of criminality. At present he is working on a pesticide ban, the redirecting of a golf course,(in order to protect a wetland area) and is a member of the Trans National Radical Party which holds NGO in consultant status with the United Nations. He is a well liked and charismatic leader in his community. He regularly contributes to many national and local newspapers as an opinion writer. He operates an online newspaper known as the [http://jimbenderoxford.blogspot.com] Woodstock Ontario Independent News. Bender was awarded the Community Care and Access "Heroes in the Home Award", receiving commendation from Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, as well as many other government officials and leaders for his role in arguing a human rights case involving summer access to camp programs for disabled children against the city of Woodstock, Ontario which he subsequently won. Bender lives in Woodstock, Ontario with his partner and two children, one who suffers from Autism.Fact|date=February 2007 Bender ran unsuccessfully for city council in Woodstock, Ontario in the November 2006 municipal elections. He garnered 2023 votes, representing 23% of the votes cast for municipal council. Bender as well ran in the Ontario general elections, 2007 as an Independent Candidate coming in 4th place ahead of the Family Coalition, a branch of the Christian Heritage Party. He won a total vote count of 632 votes. Bender has cast himself as a social liberal,fiscal conservative. Bender has organized and registered with ELections Canada,The Oxford Marijuana Party, effective February, 2007.

George Walter Kolaczynski (Carleton—Mississippi Mills)

Kolaczysnki listed himself as a postal worker in the 2004 campaign.

Ernest Rathwell (Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington)

Rathwell was born on November 26, 1958 in Carleton Place, Ontario. He later moved to Alberta to work in the oilpatch for five years, and spent five additional years working at a sour gas factory. [http://www.marijuanaparty.ca/article.php3?id_article=260] He has a Fourth Class Stationary Engineering certificate from the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. [http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes/riding/148/]

He credits marijuana for helping him come to terms with post-traumatic stress syndrome, arguing that conventional treatments did not work for him ("Ottawa Citizen", 10 June 1998). His wife also suffers from multiple sclerosis, and Rathwell believes that marijuana use has kept her alive by causing the condition to subside. He joined the Marijuana Party after he was denied a certificate to grow marijuana for medical purposes and sentenced to nine months in jail for illegal cultivation. [http://www.newsweb.ca/2006/January_19/ernest_rathwell.html]

He received 501 votes (0.84%), finishing sixth against Conservative incumbent Scott Reid.