Marxist-Leninist Party candidates, 2006 Canadian federal election

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The Communist Party of Canada - Marxist-Leninist (CPC-ML) is fielding seventy-one candidates in the 2006 federal election. Some of these candidates have their own biography pages. Information about others may be found here.

1 Ontario
2 Footnotes

[edit] Ontario

[edit] Jamilé Ghaddar (Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot)

Ghaddar was born in Lebanon to a Palestinian family, and raised in Montreal.[1] She is a linguistics student at McMaster University in Hamilton, and was twenty-two years old at the time of election (Hamilton Spectator, 9 January 2006). She helped create "Students 4 Steel" in 2004 to build support for the city's steel industry among McMaster students (Spectator, 30 March 2004). She is also a leading member of the McMaster Socialist Movement, and has been involved with Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights and Citizens Against Racism and Military Aggression[2][3]

Ghaddar's first name is sometimes spelled as "Jamila". Her official party biography can be found here.

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
2003 provincial	Hamilton West	Ind. (Independent Renewal)	303		6/6	Judy Marsales, Liberal
2004 federal	Hamilton Centre	Marxist-Leninist	91	0.21	7/7	David Christopherson, New Democratic Party
2006 federal	Ancaster—Dundas—Flamborough—Aldershot	Marxist-Leninist	112		6/6	David Sweet, Conservative

[edit] Roger Carter (Beaches—East York)

Carter was born on June 9, 1941 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He joined the CPC-ML in 1975, and has campaigned for the party five times since then. He is a postal worker,[4] and has been a Canadian Union of Postal Workers shop steward.[5]

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
1980 federal	York—Scarborough	Marxist-Leninist	75		6/6	Paul J. Cosgrove, Liberal
1993 federal	Don Valley East	Marxist-Leninist	90		8/9	David Collenette, Liberal
2000 federal	Willowdale	Marxist-Leninist	145		5/5	Jim Peterson, Liberal
2004 federal	Beaches—East York	Marxist-Leninist	46		8/8	Maria Minna, Liberal
2006 federal	Beaches—East York	Marxist-Leninist	91	0.18	6/6	Maria Minna, Liberal

[edit] Francesco (Frank) Chilelli (Bramalea—Gore—Malton)

Chilelli joined the Marxist-Leninist Party in 1996, when he was a graduate student at the University of Toronto. His thesis, published in 1998, examined liberal and communist concepts of distributive justice.^[1] He was thirty-eight years old in 2006, and was listed as a philosophy teacher for the Peel District School Board.^[2] He is a founder of the Bramalea-Gore-Malton Citizens Committee, and a past volunteer with the CARE Connection.^[3] Chilelli has called for Canadian soldiers to be brought home from Afghanistan.

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
1997 federal	Davenport	Marxist-Leninist	250		6/8	Charles Caccia, Liberal
2000 federal	Eglinton—Lawrence	Marxist-Leninist	164	0.40	6/7	Joe Volpe, Liberal
2003 provincial	Bramalea—Gore—Malton—Springdale	Ind. (Independent Renewal)	868		5/6	Kuldip Kular, Liberal
2004 federal	Bramalea—Gore—Malton	Marxist-Leninist	237		5/5	Gurbax Malhi, Liberal
2006 federal	Bramalea—Gore—Malton	Marxist-Leninist	233		5/5	Gurbax Malhi, Liberal

[edit] Stephen Rutchinski (Nickel Belt)

Rutchinski was raised in Capreol, Ontario, and was 53 years old during the 2004 election. He is a perennial candidate for the CPC-ML, which he joined in 1973 (Sudbury Star, 10 June 2004). Formerly a steelworker, shipping supervisor and truck driver, Rutchinski works at the University of Toronto as of 2005.[6] He is also a shop steward with United Steelworkers of America Local 1998 ([7], Sudbury Star, 24 June 2004). He was a member of Toronto's Civil Rights and Privacy Committee during the 1990s, and opposed provisions for biometric identification in the provincial government's Social Assistance Reform Act of 1997.[8]

He has stood for federal and provincial office seven times. He appeared on the ballot as a non-affiliated candidate in 1980 and as an independent candidate in 1999, in both cases because the CPC-ML was not a registered party.

Rutchinski wrote a piece entitled "Crisis in the Party-Run Parliament Reveals the Necessity for Change" for the CPC-ML's newspaper late 2005, calling for a "new democratic process" to replace Canada's "crisis-ridden party-run Parliamentary democracy".[9]

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
1980 federal	Oshawa	Marxist-Leninist	29		6/6	Ed Broadbent, New Democratic Party
1988 federal	Toronto Centre—Rosedale	Non-affiliated (M-L)	141		4/5	Sheila Copps, Liberal
1993 federal	Rosedale	Marxist-Leninist	61		9/10	Bill Graham, Liberal
1997 federal	Toronto Centre—Rosedale	Marxist-Leninist	166	0.36	8/9	Bill Graham, Liberal
1999 provincial	Beaches—East York	Independent (M-L)	164		7/7	Frances Lankin, New Democratic Party
2000 federal	Beaches—East York	Marxist-Leninist	53		10/10	Maria Minna, Liberal
2004 federal	Nickel Belt	Marxist-Leninist	51		7/7	Raymond Bonin, Liberal
2006 federal	Nickel Belt	Marxist-Leninist	42		7/7	Raymond Bonin, Liberal

[edit] David Gershuny (Oshawa)

Gershuny is a shipper and heavy vehicle operator, and is a perennial candidate for the Marxist-Leninist Party. During the 1993 election, he announced that his party would bring forward voter recall as part of an electoral reform package (Toronto Star, 22 October 1993).

His brother, Lorne Gershuny, has also been a candidate of the CPC-ML.

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
1993 federal	St. Paul's	Marxist-Leninist	75	0.15	10/12	Barry Campbell, Liberal
1999 provincial	Beaches—East York	Independent (M-L)	486		5/8	Joseph Cordiano, Liberal
2000 federal	Oshawa	Marxist-Leninist	97		6/6	Ivan Grose, Liberal
2004 federal	Mississauga—Brampton South	Marxist-Leninist	185		5/5	Navdeep Bains, Liberal
2006 federal	Oshawa	Marxist-Leninist	91		5/5	Colin Carrie, Conservative

[edit] Elaine Couto (St. Catharines)

Couto is a perennial candidate for the Marxist-Leninist Party. She first campaigned for public office in the 1993 federal election as a candidate of the Canadian Party for Renewal (CPR), an unregistered party affiliated with the CPC-ML (Hamilton Spectator, 21 October 1993). In every federal election since then, she has campaigned as an official CPC-ML candidate. She also campaigned for provincial office in 1999, and appeared on the ballot as an independent candidate as the CPC-ML is not registered at the provincial level.

Couto worked on the New Hamilton Weekly journal in the early 1990s, along with fellow CPC-ML member Rolf Gerstenberger (Hamilton Spectator, 11 September 1992). In her private life, she has worked as a receptionist and sales manager.

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
1993 federal	Hamilton West	N/A (Renewal)	134		7/7	Stan Keyes, Liberal
1997 federal	Trinity—Spadina	Marxist-Leninist	146		7/7	Brenda Chamberlain, Liberal
1999 provincial	Etobicoke Centre	Ind. (Marxist-Leninist)	209		7/7	Chris Stockwell, Progressive Conservative
2000 federal	St. Catharines	Marxist-Leninist	93	0.20	7/7	Walt Lastewka, Liberal
2004 federal	St. Catharines	Marxist-Leninist	61	0.12	7/7	Walt Lastewka, Liberal
2006 federal	St. Catharines	Marxist-Leninist	101	0.17	6/6	Rick Dykstra, Conservative

[edit] Marcell Rodden (Toronto—Danforth)

Rodden (born 1980) is a political activist in Toronto, Ontario and student in equity studies at the University of Toronto. He is the former general co-ordinator of Young Left, a revolutionary youth group in Toronto founded by former youth members of the Communist Party of Canada who left the party over organizational and political disagreements.^[4] Rodden himself was never a member of the Communist Party of Canada, and describes his politics as neo-Maoist. He is active with Anti-Racist Action in Toronto, the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, and the Canadian Friends of Soviet People, an organization which supports the re-establishment of the former Soviet Union and publishes the magazine Northstar Compass. Rodden was a delegate at the Second World Congress of Friends of Soviet People, which was held in Canada.^[5]

Rodden was arrested at an Anti-Racist Action counterdemonstration against Holocaust denier Ernst Zündel on September 12, 2004, along with three other anti-racists and several neo-Nazis.^[6]

In 2005, he helped coordinate a campaign by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty to allow Ontario Works recipients to receive an extra $250 per month in dietary funding from the provincial government.^[7] The province tightened its regulations for use of the fund later in the year by changing the legislation. He was portrayed by actor Dave Healey during the 2006 federal election in an improvisational comedy show called "Mock the Vote" ^[8].

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
2004 federal	Toronto—Danforth	Marxist-Leninist	84	0.18	6/6	Jack Layton, New Democratic Party
2006 federal	Toronto—Danforth	Marxist-Leninist	172		5/5	Jack Layton, New Democratic Party

[edit] S. Nicholas C. (Nick) Lin (Trinity—Spadina)

Lin is a worker in the healthcare sector, and a frequent candidate for public office. He has been a member of the Communist Youth Union of Canada (Marxist-Leninist), the Toronto Student Project and the Youth Organizing Movement, as well as the Student Christian Movement of Canada.[10] Lin has emphasized youth and education issues in his campaigns.[11] He was 31 years old at the time of the 2003 provincial election.

He has campaigned as an independent candidate in two provincial elections, as the CPC-ML is not registered at the provincial level.

**Electoral record**
Election	Division	Party	Votes	%	Place	Winner
1999 provincial	York West	Ind. (Marxist-Leninist)	194		6/7	Mario Sergio, Liberal
2000 federal	Trinity—Spadina	Marxist-Leninist	102		7/9	Tony Ianno, Liberal
2003 provincial	Trinity—Spadina	Ind. (Independent Renewal)	256	0.63	6/6	Rosario Marchese, New Democratic Party
2004 federal	Trinity—Spadina	Marxist-Leninist	102		6/8	Tony Ianno, Liberal
2006 federal	Trinity—Spadina	Marxist-Leninist