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Having just announced our official registration in the provincial riding of Welland-Thorold, we were somewhat caught off guard by NDP MPP Mel Swart's sudden announcement that, for health reasons, he would be relinquishing the riding he had represented for the past thirteen years (see coverage, last issue).
As part of our commitment to the riding, Freedom Party launched a modest but highly credible election campaign where, thanks to Freedom Party candidate Barry Fitzgerald, our presence in the byelection played an important role in helping define the issues. It was Freedom Party's second participation in a byelection in 1988, the first being the London North byelection (see last issue).
On November 3, 1988, in the midst of municipal election campaigns and a federal election campaign, voters in the riding of Welland-Thorold went to the polls to re-elect an NDP representative, candidate Peter Kormos, whose wide margin of victory was indicative of the strength of NDP support in the riding.
Nevertheless, as illustrated by our media coverage (examples reprinted), we demonstrated once again that our participation in an election can have a measurable impact even long before any realistic expectations of significant vote returns. As we announced in our August 1988 Media Release (issued before the byelection was called):
"Fitzgerald's upcoming byelection campaign will be a first step in establishing Freedom Party's presence in the Welland-Thorold area, where the party's grass-roots approach to politics is expected to contribute to the creation of a riding organization capable of having representatives elected in the future."
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last updated on April 28, 2002
