Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada

Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada
Active federal party
Leader	Liz White
Founded	2005
Headquarters	101–221 Broadview Avenue Toronto, Ontario M4M 2G3
Ideology	Animal rights activism, Environmentalism
Official colours	Forest Green
Seats in the House of Commons	0 / 308
Seats in the Senate	0 / 105
Website
Official website
Politics of Canada Political parties Elections

The Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada is a small registered political party in Canada. It was formed by two organizations, the Animal Alliance of Canada and Environment Voters. The latter had previously been organized as a subsidiary of the former. Elections Canada lists the party’s official short name as Animal Alliance/Environment Voters.

Ideology

The party’s program is centred on animal rights and environmentalism; the party best known for organizing around that issue.

Both parent organizations have been particularly vocal in the past opposing the seal hunt in Newfoundland and Labrador, and other causes have included opposition to the use of fur farming and trapping, and bear hunting.

Influence of electoral law

The party was formed as a result of laws restricting political advocacy by “third parties” (i.e., organizations that are not registered by Elections Canada as political parties) during election campaigns. AAEV intends to use its status as a political party to circumvent that restriction by running a sole candidate, thus allowing it to promote its views during election periods.^[1]

Though the party ran a single candidate in the 2006 general election in order to entitle it to political-party status, its role in most ridings is to endorse a major-party candidate which it sees as promoting the organization’s views. In the 2006 general election, AAEV's free-time political ads specifically endorsed the New Democratic Party, counter-balanced by the statement that voters "could" vote for AAEV leader Liz White in Toronto Centre.^[2]

Canadian electoral laws hinder abuse of this loophole by setting campaign spending limits for parties that are proportional to the number of voters in the electoral districts where the a party is running candidates. Because the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada was running only one candidate, it was only permitted to spend $66,715.37, compared to the $18,225,260.74 limits granted to the major national parties.^[3]

In 2008, however, the party ran four candidates.

AAC and EV have in the past campaigned to elect candidates and parties with positions favourable to animal rights and the environment, respectively, and to oppose those with unfavourable positions. Since 1999, the groups claim to have participated in over 50 campaigns.

Elizabeth "Liz" White

Elizabeth "Liz" White is a Canadian politician and animal rights activist residing in Toronto, Ontario. She is the current leader of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada, a minor federal political party in Canada.

Animal Alliance of Canada

Liz White works full time in for the Animal Alliance of Canada. She is a current member of the Board of Directors of the organization and deals with issues regarding legislation and media relation.^[4] She has been with the organization since the 1980s.

White also supports the complete boycott of Canada's seafood industry and is against the seal hunt.^[5] White herself is a vegan and advocates a vegan lifestyle.^[6]

Prior to her work with the Animal Alliance, White was the director of the Toronto Humane Society.

White founded the Animal Alliance Environmentalist Voters Party in 2005 after laws passed by the Liberal government forced the Animal Alliance an Animal rights lobby group who supported election campaigns of candidates of any stripe who were favorable to advancing animal rights on the federal and provincial level to register as a third party. The party took advantage of a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that allowed Political parties to be registered by only running a single candidate.^[7]

Candidates

2008 candidates

In the 2008 general election, the AAEVPC fielded four candidates, all in Ontario:

1. Marie Crawford in Toronto–Danforth
2. Karen Levenson in Guelph
3. Simon Luisi in Davenport
4. Liz White in Toronto Centre

2011 candidates

In the 2011 general election, the AAEVPC fielded seven candidates, six in Ontario, one in the territories:

1. Marie Crawford in Toronto—Danforth
2. Bonnie Dawson in Western Arctic
3. Karen Levenson in Guelph
4. Simon Luisi in Davenport
5. Yvonne Mackie in Newmarket—Aurora
6. AnnaMaria Valastro in London North Centre
7. Liz White in Thornhill

Election results

The party ran one candidate in the 2006 federal election, receiving 72 votes. This is the lowest number of votes and the lowest percentage of the popular vote (0.0004% of total votes cast) ever recorded by a federal party contesting an election in Canada. During the March 17, 2008 by-election, the party managed to improve its vote share, despite low voter turnout.

See also

• List of animal advocacy parties
• List of political parties in Canada

References

External links

• Official website