Lemon Party of Canada Parti Citron du Canada | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Pope Terence I |
| Spokesperson | Mary-Gabrielle Blay II |
| Founder | Denis R. Patenaude |
| Founded | January 8, 1987 |
| Ideology | Political satire |
| Colours | Yellow |
| Slogan | "For a bitter Canada" |
The Lemon Party of Canada (French : Parti Citron du Canada) was a frivolous political party in Canada that ran candidates at the federal level, as well as provincially in Quebec. The party was registered on January 8, 1987, [1] by then-leader Denis R. Patenaude, and deregistered on November 14, 1998 for failing to have at least ten candidates stand for election. [2] [3] The party was headed by "Pope Terence the First", whose existence is unconfirmed. [4] According to Jean-Simon Poirier, Terence is "sort of a mystical, mythical person" who doesn't spend much time in Canada. "The interesting thing about him is he's never in the country. He's always touring around other countries," he said, adding that at present Terence was visiting southwestern Siberia. [4] Their official agent was Mary-Gabrielle Blay II.
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Its 2004 national convention produced a platform of policies which were "Placed in small green plastic boxes and sold to industrial pig farms in Mexico", according to a large party spokeswoman. The subsequent electoral campaign, under the slogan "For a bitter Canada", received minor, but sympathetic, media coverage. [4] Its last press release was published online five days prior to the 2006 Canadian elections, ridiculing both Liberal Paul Martin and Conservative Stephen Harper. [5] The Lemon Party prided itself on its record on fiscal discipline and in pushing for economic growth. Its economic plan was allegedly authored by Montreal economist Ianik Marcil. Members of the Lemon Party refer to themselves as "lemonistas" and "lemons". [4]
The Lemon Party has not been registered as a political party since the early 1990s, when it was registered only in Quebec. They were going to be re-registered in 2004 although they did not fill out the requisite paperwork in time. They thought the deadline for registering candidates was June 9, when in reality it was two days prior to that. [4] A member of the party (Jean-Simon Poirier) admitted that the party had only itself to blame for the predicament. "We're not very organized. We're like Liberals," he said. [4]