Canadians' Choice Party

Canadians' Choice Party
Active provincial party
Abbreviation	CCP
Leader	Bahman Yazdanfar
President	Bahman Yazdanfar [1]
Founded	August 26, 2011
Headquarters	1-927 Danforth Ave, Toronto ON M4J 1L8 [2]
Seats in Legislature	0 / 107
Website
canadianschoice.com
Politics of Ontario Political parties Elections

The Canadians′ Choice Party (CCP) is a minor political party based in Ontario, Canada. The party is led by Bahman Yazdanfar. ^[2]

History

The Canadians' Choice Party was founded on August 26, 2011 by Bahman Yazdanfar of Toronto. ^[3] Yazdanfar, who immigrated to Canada from Iran in 1986, ran a small consulting firm for businesses until 2008, when the global economic recession caused him to close. ^[4] After the failure of his business, Yazdanfar began a talk show on YouTube which interviewed subjects ranging from mainstream local figures to political extremists. ^[4]

In 2015, in response to public outcry over Your Ward News , a local newspaper delivered to households in The Beaches that was banned by Canada Post for carrying anti-Semitic and racist content, Yazdanfar supported the publication, buying advertising in it and decrying the Ontario government's laying of criminal charges against the publication's publisher and editor for hate speech. ^[3]

The party failed to win any seats in the 2022 Ontario general election.

Platform

The party bills itself as a "party of independents" and offers very few barriers for entry. ^[5] To run as a candidate for the party, a candidate has to:

• Show responsibility first to the riding they represent when they become MPP.
• Show commitment to stay in the Canadians' Choice Party for the entire mandate once elected.
• Not cross the floor. ^[6]

On its website, the party supports four priorities: ^[6]

• Fiscal responsibility and respect for taxpayers,
• Individual freedom and the right to free speech,
• Sovereignty and protection of common-law rights,
• Transparency and accountability in government.

It also calls for the ability to recall elected officials and calls for more referendums. ^[6]

Controversy and associations with Neo-Nazism

The party's position on unfettered free speech has caused controversy in the 2018 provincial election when several of its candidates were found to be associated with the neo-Nazi movement in Canada. James Sears, who ran in the riding of Ottawa Centre, is the editor of the far-right newspaper, Your Ward News, and claims to be an adherent of Nazism. ^{[7] [8]}

Among the party's other notable candidates were Paul Fromm, a prominent Canadian white supremacist, who ran in Etobicoke Centre in 2018, and Leslie Bory, a Brantford-based Holocaust denier and conspiracy theorist convicted of spreading online hate, who ran in Brantford—Brant in both 2018 and 2022. ^[9]

Electoral results

Election results

Election year	Party Leader	No. of overall votes	% of overall total	No. of candidates run	No. of seats won	+/−	Government
2011	Bahman Yazdanfar	156	< .01%	3 / 107	0 / 107	New Party	Extra-parliamentary
2014		1,293	0.03%	4 / 107	0 / 107	0.03%	Extra-parliamentary
2018		1,239	0.02%	5 / 124	0 / 124	0.01%	Extra-parliamentary
2022		568	0.01%	2 / 124	0 / 124	0.01%	Extra-parliamentary
2025		582	0.01%	2 / 124	0 / 124		Extra-parliamentary

In the 2011 Ontario general election, the Canadians' Choice Party nominated three candidates for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:

Riding	Candidate's Name	Notes	Votes	%	Rank
Toronto Centre	Bahman Yazdanfar	Party Leader	19	0.04%	10/10
St. Catharines	Jon Radick		62	0.14%	7/8
Toronto—Danforth	John Richardson		75	0.2%	9/9

In the 2014 election, Yazdanfar and Richardson ran again, this time joined by Dorian Baxter, perennial candidate for the Progressive Canadian Party.

Riding	Candidate's Name	Notes	Votes	%	Rank
Toronto Centre	Bahman Yazdanfar	Party Leader	78	0.15%	11/11
Scarborough—Guildwood	John Sawdon		120	0.34%	7/7
Newmarket—Aurora	Dorian Baxter		922	1.76%	5/7
Toronto—Danforth	John Richardson		167	0.4%	7/10

In the 2018 election, the party ran five candidates:

Riding	Candidate's Name	Notes	Votes	%	Rank
Beaches—East York	Bahman Yazdanfar	Party Leader	74	0.14%	9/11
Barrie—Innisfil	Jake Tucker		184	0.42%	6/8
Brantford—Brant	Leslie Bory		253	0.44%	8/9
Etobicoke Centre	Paul Fromm		631	1.10%	5/7
Ottawa Centre	James Sears		92	0.14%	8/8

References

1. "Registered Political Parties". Elections Ontario . Retrieved 23 July 2023.
2. "Registered Political Parties in Ontario". Archived from the original on 2018-11-26. Retrieved 2018-05-17.
3. "Submit your nomination, before fundraising, and accepting donations". www.canadianschoice.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
4. "Bahman Yazdanfar". www.canadianschoice.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-05-18. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
5. "Fringe parties add spice to Ontario election despite no hope of seats". CityNews Toronto. 2011-10-06. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
6. "Get voters throughout your riding, and persuade them to vote for you". www.canadianschoice.ca. Archived from the original on 2018-05-22. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
7. Delamont, Kieran (2018-05-17). "Ottawa Centre candidates set to square off at community debate". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
8. Crawford, Blair (2018-05-10). "Hate crime charge hangs over Ottawa Centre candidate". Ottawa Citizen. Retrieved 2018-05-21.
9. Gamble, Susan (2025-01-17). "Brantford man found guilty of threats, inciting hatred". Brantford Expositor. Retrieved 2025-01-26.