ONTARIO (July 30 - Sept 6.1990) - Virtually in the middle of his Liberal Party's majority mandate, Ontario premier David Peterson chose to call an early election. With summer opinion polls promising a majority re-election for the Liberals, the election itself became the main issue of the campaign, as voters took it upon themselves to get even with a government that would dare to take such advantage of it position and power. Like the last election that effectively neutralized the Conservatives, Election'90 became the voter's revenge against the Liberals.

For Freedom Party, Election' 90 represented the party's third outing in an Ontario general election. Freedom Party's first campaign, in 1985 when the party was just one year old, saw three candidates fielded in the three ridings of London, Ontario where the party is headquartered. In 1987, Freedom Party fielded nine candidates in the Ontario general election, while the 1990 election saw ten candidates fielded. Freedom Party has also been represented in two provincial byelections, both called in 1988.

Comparative vote totals and results of each election and byelection are shown on the chart, Election Results at a Glance.

In the midst of a voter tide that flowed against the Liberals and into the waiting hands of the New Democrats, Freedom Party's ten candidates nevertheless managed to increase the party's over-all vote totals and averages, and established a few significant "firsts" for the party.

For the first time in our brief history, Freedom Party appeared on an advance poll. Commissioned on August 23 by The London Free Press/Nordex Research, the poll showed a 1% "decided vote" for Freedom Party at the point when the Liberals and NDP were head to head. Another "first" was achieved when Ray Monteith, our candidate in Elgin, managed to break the magical 1000-vote mark, which also made him the first FP candidate to pass the 3% vote mark for his riding. For the first time in Ontario's history, a leadership debate --- for the leaders of Ontario's smaller "fringe" parties --- was staged by Rogers Cable in Toronto and broadcast Ontario-wide twice during the election campaign. Given the increasing influence of Ontario's smaller parties, this was a significant event, one that is sure to be repeated in future elections. Freedom Party leader Robert Metz also appeared on an eighteen-minute CBC Radio Noon interview with Christopher Thomas, which generated more phone calls and inquiries than any other single media event or campaign in the party's history. The interview, in its entirety, is reproduced elsewhere in this issue.

In an effort to appeal to what former premier David Peterson referred to as the "cranky electorate", Freedom Party's literature and sign campaign opted for a rather unconventional approach. FP literature challenged voters who were "Mad as hell at politicians taxing us to death" to contrast Freedom Party's policies with the policies of the major three parties. FP Election '90 lawn signs made a statement: "I'm mad as hell and voting Freedom Party." With FP action director Marc Emery in charge of literature and sign distribution, over 100,000 pieces of literature were distributed throughout the ten ridings where Freedom Party was represented. Distribution ranged from 5,000 to 20,000 pieces of literature per riding, depending on the number of volunteers available in a riding. To our own surprise, our signs proved to be more popular than expected; supplies ran out almost a week before election day Here's Freedom Party's 1990 candidate line-up: LONDON NORTH: Jack Plant; LONDON CENTRE: Lloyd Walker; LONDON SOUTH: Robert Metz; MIDDLESEX: Barry Malcolm; ELGIN: Ray Monteith; OXFORD: Joe Byway; WELLAND-THOROLD: Barry Fitzgerald; MISSISSAUGA EAST: Chris Balabanian; HALTON CENTRE: Bill Frampton; DON MILLS: David Pengelly. Various press coverage relating to each candidate's campaign has been reproduced throughout this newsletter. Without doubt, it was those candidates who campaigned in rural areas or in areas where there were plenty of smaller community newspapers who received the best print-media coverage. Freedom Party candidates in or near large urban centres received almost no print-media coverage. This situation was particularly evident with the London- area candidates and in Mississauga and Don Mills (Toronto). A representative sampling of our news coverage has been reprinted in this issue of Freedom Flyer For the most part, the coverage is self-explanatory. Where appropriate or necessary, brief comments may accompany coverage. One misconception that occasionally appears in print media coverage (and understandably more often in editorials or comments directed against Freedom Party) is the perception that Freedom Party is "right-wing", despite the fundamental differences between our platform and that of other parties perceived as right-wing. However, given Canada's left-wing political environment, this perception is somewhat understandable. The idea that a political philosophy like Freedom Party's might be outside the traditional left- and right-wing spectrum tends to be beyond the limited political knowledge and experience of most. This leaves them in the trap of seeing issues only in terms of "left" and "right" (both variants of government control), rather than in terms of individual freedom of choice versus state control. Lower taxes was the key issue promoted by Freedom Party candidates during Election'90. Fp literature stressed that "Unlike the other parties who are all competing to spend your money, Freedom Party will be hard at work, campaigning to keep your hard- earned dollars in your own pocket --- hands off to politicians! Lower taxes. reduced government spending, and the protection of private property rights are the keys to a prosperous healthy economy, and to a clean and safe environment." For more background on these and other issues, as well as more information on the candidates, readers are encouraged to peruse the articles reproduced in this newsletter. More updates will follow in future issues of Freedom Flyer.

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