- Ken Campbell (evangelist)
Kenneth Livingstone (Ken) Campbell (
January 15 1934 -August 28 ,2006 ) was a Canadian fundamentalistBaptist evangelist and political figure. He was the final leader of theSocial Credit Party of Canada from 1990 to 1993.He became prominent in the
Toronto area in the 1970s as a crusader against homosexuals andabortion rights, founding "Renaissance Canada" in 1974 to promote his views, particularly in education.cite news
last =Csillag
first =Ron
coauthors =
title =KEN CAMPBELL, CHRISTIAN CRUSADER 1934-2006; He was an in-your-face fundamentalist who waged a relentless and unapologetic battle against gay rights, abortion and secularization
work =Globe and Mail
pages =
language =
publisher =
date =September 23, 2006
url =
accessdate = ] He held frequent rallies against gay rights and regularly took out full page ads in newspapers, campaigning against the "homosexual agenda" and "secular humanism". Many such ads were printed following court decisions on gay rights, such as the 1998 Supreme Court ruling in "Vriend v. Alberta". In 1980, Campbell published a book entitled "No Small Stir: A Spiritual Strategy For Salting and Saving A Secular Society", with a forward fromJerry Falwell .Campbell ran in elections at all levels in the 1980s and 1990s, particularly in the provincial riding of
St. George—St. David , which included the centre of Toronto's gay community clustered aroundChurch and Wellesley streets. In 1984, following the acquittal of Dr.Henry Morgentaler , he founded a group called "Choose Life Canada" which picketed abortion clinics in Toronto and other Ontario cities. On one occasion, he attempted to conduct a "citizen's arrest" against provincial Attorney GeneralIan Scott , after Scott refused to shut down an abortion clinic run by Morgentaler . Campbell later ran against Scott in St. George—St. David as a candidate of the Family Coalition Party in the 1990 provincial election. He campaigned as a fringe candidate forMayor of Toronto the following year, but urged voters to supportJune Rowlands rather than himself to preventJack Layton from winning.He once ran for mayor of
Milton, Ontario against long-time mayor Gordon Krantz to protest having to pay the education portion of his municipal property taxes. Campbell refused to pay on the basis that he disagreed with the school curriculum. Campbell sent Krantz a letter during the campaign, saying that if he were elected, he would be too busy to be mayor so he would "deputize" Krantz and have him do the job. cite news
last =Burman
first =John
coauthors =
title =Fiery evangelist stuck to values
work =Toronto Star
pages =
language =
publisher =
date =September 7, 2006
url =
accessdate = ]Campbell took over the near-moribund
Social Credit Party of Canada in 1990, and ran in aby-election in Oshawa. He placed eighth, with 96 votes. He renamed the party the "Christian Freedom Social Credit Party" and later the "Christian Freedom Party", but it was unable to run 50 candidates in the 1993 election, and was deregistered byElections Canada . As a result, Campbell was forced to run as an independent, finishing last in a field of six candidates in Oakville. He ran a final time, again as an independent, in a 1996 federal by-election inHamilton East , finishing in fifth place with 287 votes.The party has been deregistered, but continued as an incorporated non-profit entity as the "Social Credit Party of Canada, Incorporated". He occasionally used it as a podium for his political activities in order to preserve his church's status as a religious charity.
For a number of years, Campbell hosted a daily
Christian evangelical radio show onCJMR (AM) Radio in Mississauga. In 1999, he protested a same-sex wedding ceremony atBrent Hawkes 'sMetropolitan Community Church . Around 2000, while recovering fromprostate cancer , Campbell moved himself and his ministry from Ontario to the interior ofBritish Columbia .In 2003, Campbell declared that Toronto's
SARS epidemic would cease when the city ended its Gay Pride Parade (which he described as an "AIDS Parade"). [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:JAp06N0ofKgJ:www.christianity.ca/news/commentary/2003/08.000.html+%22Christian+Heritage+Party%22+AIDS&hl=en]He died August 28, 2006, in palliative care in a Delta, British Columbia, hospital. [http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/aug/06083007.html]
A different Ken Campbell was one of Canada's most prominent
HIV /AIDS awareness activists in the early 1990s, appearing in public service announcements funded by the Ontario government's Ministry of Health.Notes
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.