Marijuana Party of Canada
The Marijuana Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party whose platform is to end prohibition of cannabis. The party's leader is Marc-Boris St-Maurice, an activist and member of the punk group Grim Skunk. After a 1991 arrest for possession of marijuana, he vowed to legalize cannabis. He is also creator of the Quebec political party Bloc pot. A number of sections of the party are considering endorsing the New Democratic Party of Canada because of its liberal stand on marijuana laws.
In the 2000 federal elections, the party nominated candidates in 76 ridings in 7 provinces and won 66,000 votes (0.52% of national total). It nominated 71 candidates for the 2004 general election and won 33,590 votes (0.3%). Part of the reason for the decline may be that the Liberal Party in the meantime began advancing some of the Marijuana Party's goals by moving towards decriminalization of the drug.
