- Jack Plant
Jack Plant is a
politician inOntario ,Canada . He is a longtime member of theOntario Freedom Party , and served as its leader from1994 to1997 .Plant was raised in
London, Ontario , and works as a firefighter is addition to his political career. He joined the Freedom Party via an association with founderRobert Metz . Like many others in the Freedom Party, Plant is a vocal proponent of individual rights and property rights, and an opponent of unionization and government management. He is also a follower ofAyn Rand 's philosophy.Shortly before becoming Freedom Party leader, he claimed that government oversight of "pensions, education, healthcare, welfare, transportation, culture and energy production" was a failure, and had brought Canadian society to the brink of collapse. [http://www.freedomparty.org/consent/cons20_4.htm] He also claimed that his party's ideas were similar to those of the
Reform Party of Canada , and theProgressive Conservative Party of Ontario underMike Harris .Plant became leader of the Freedom Party in mid-
1994 and led the party through the 1995 provincial election, challenging future provincialcabinet minister Dianne Cunningham inLondon North . He received 334 votes, for a distant sixth place finish. It will be noted that the Freedom Party is a fairly small organization within Ontario.Plant resigned as leader in
1997 , but has remained among the party's most vocal supporters since that time. As of1997 , he is no longer a member of the party's provincial executive.In the late 1990s, Plant was involved in a public controversy involving reported connections between the Freedom Party and Canada's far-right network. (See the
Lloyd Walker page for further details). Although he has repeatedly condemned racism and Nazism, Plant has also opposed any efforts by the state to restrict the "free expression" of ideas from far-right groups.Electoral history
*
Ontario general election, 1990 ,London North , 601 votes (winner:Dianne Cunningham , Progressive Conservative)
*Ontario general election, 1995 ,London North 334 votes (winner:Dianne Cunningham , Progressive Conservative)
*Ontario general election, 1999 ,London West , 236 votes (winner: Bob Wood, Progressive Conservative)
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.