Liberal Party candidates, 1979 Canadian federal election

The Liberal Party of Canada fielded a full slate of 282 candidates in the 1979 Canadian federal election, and won 114 seats to become the Official Opposition in parliament. The party had previously been in government since 1963.

Many of the party's candidates have their own biography pages. Information about others may be found here.

Ontario

Philipp Varelis (Broadview—Greenwood)

Varelis was born in Greece, and moved to Canada in 1968. [Julia Turner and Michael Moore, "Lone voice shouts at PM to quit during talk at Rosedale school", "Globe and Mail", 7 October 1978, P4.] He worked as an accountant in private life, [David Humphreys, "Rivals are bullish about prospects", "Globe and Mail", 13 September 1978, P8.] and first ran for the Canadian House of Commons in a 1978 by-election, in the Toronto riding of Broadview. He won the Liberal nomination over former candidate Tom Yankou, following an acrimonious nomination meeting that divided the local party organization. ["Liberals nominate accountant", "Toronto Star", 11 April 1978, A4. The "Star" report indicates that Varelis won 57% of the roughly 2,000 votes cast. See also Elaine Carey, "October 16 campaign gives Metro mini-election fever", "Toronto Star", 20 September 1978, A31, which indicates that Varelis won by the nomination by "signing up a lot of new members".] Valeris, who was forty-one years old at the time, argued that the country's financial situation was better than it appeared from media reports. [Mary Trueman, "NDP fights right-wing mood to keep Broadview", "Globe and Mail", 11 October 1978, P8.] He ran what the "Toronto Star" described as an "old-fashioned Liberal ethnic campaign", arguing that "only an immigrant can understand the problems of an immigrant". [Daniel Stoffman, "The chic, the right, the ethnic battle for Broadview prize", "Toronto Star", 7 October 1978, C4.] He finished third against Bob Rae, who was then a member of the New Democratic Party.

Varelis lost to Rae again in the 1979 general election. During this campaign, he indicated his support for the restoration of capital punishment. ["Attention all concerned citizens of Canada!" [advertisement] , "Toronto Star", 19 May 1979, A14.] He planned to run a third time in 1980, but was persuaded to stand aside in favour of Philip Deane Gigantes. Norm MacLeod, the Liberal Party's chief Ontario organizer, informed the "Globe and Mail" newspaper that Varelis was considered a weak candidate and that the party did not want him as their standard-bearer again. [Hugh Winsor, "Backroom Diary", "Globe and Mail", 16 February 1980, P14.] By way of a compromise, Varelis became Deane Gigantes's campaign chairman. [Hugh Winsor, "Backroom Diary", "Globe and Mail", 24 January 1980, P9.]

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