Blair Timmothy Longley (born September 25, 1950) is a Canadian politician and activist who has served as the leader of the Marijuana Party since 2004.
Blair Longley | |
|---|---|
| Leader of the Marijuana Party | |
| Assumed office 2004 | |
| Preceded by | Marc-Boris St-Maurice |
| Chief Officer of the Marijuana Party | |
| Assumed office 2019 | |
| Chief Agent of the Rhinoceros Party of Canada | |
| In office 1985–1987 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Blair Timmothy Longley September 25, 1950 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Political party | Marijuana (2004–present) |
| Other political affiliations |
|
Early life
editBlair Longley was born on September 25, 1950, in Vancouver, British Columbia, and grew up in North Vancouver.[1][2]
Career
editLongley attended the founding meeting of the Green Party of Canada at Carleton University in November 1983. He went on to be an active member of the Rhinoceros Party of which he was an official agent from 1985 to 1987.
He joined the Marijuana Party shortly after its foundation and became the party's leader in 2004, following the resignation of Marc-Boris St-Maurice.[3]
He has been a candidate for the House of Commons of Canada on four occasions, for three different parties. He ran for the Green Party in the 1984 election in the riding of Burnaby placing a distant fourth of four candidates with 364 of 58,991 votes.[citation needed] In 1988, he ran against opposition leader John Turner, with no party affiliation, and placed ninth of twelve candidates with 52 of 54,654 votes.[citation needed]
Longley ran for the Bloc Pot in the 2003 Quebec provincial election.[citation needed] He later ran for the Marijuana Party in the riding of North Okanagan—Shuswap in 2004 and placed fifth of eight candidates with 492 of 51,765 votes,[citation needed] then in 2008 in the riding of Hochelaga, Quebec, placing eighth of nine with 183 of 45,683 votes.[citation needed]
Following the legalization of cannabis in Canada, Longley said it was "going to be harder than ever now for the Marijuana Party to exist".[4] Only four candidates ran for the Marijuana Party in the 2019 federal election.[5] As of 2018[update] Longley was the Marijuana Party's chief agent and leader, and so was ineligible to run in federal elections. Since legalization, Longley shifted the Marijuana Party's message towards scrutinizing the "rapid capitalization" of the drug.[6]
Electoral record
edit| 2008 Canadian federal election: Hochelaga | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Bloc Québécois | Réal Ménard | 22,720 | 49.73 | −5.85 | $28,893 | |||
| Liberal | Diane Dicaire | 9,442 | 20.67 | +3.43 | not listed | |||
| New Democratic | Jean-Claude Rocheleau | 6,600 | 14.45 | +5.54 | $21,479 | |||
| Conservative | Luc Labbé | 4,201 | 9.20 | −3.01 | $8,586 | |||
| Green | Philippe Larochelle | 1,946 | 4.26 | −0.60 | not listed | |||
| neorhino.ca | Simon Landry | 230 | 0.50 | – | not listed | |||
| Communist | Marianne Breton Fontaine | 184 | 0.40 | $898 | ||||
| Marijuana | Blair T. Longley | 183 | 0.40 | −0.32 | not listed | |||
| Marxist–Leninist | Christine Dandenault | 177 | 0.39 | −0.09 | not listed | |||
| Total valid votes | 45,683 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Total rejected, unmarked, and declined ballots | 644 | |||||||
| Turnout | 46,327 | 58.24 | −0.07 | |||||
| Eligible voters | 79,542 | |||||||
| Sources: Official Results, Elections Canada and Financial Returns, Elections Canada. | ||||||||
| 2004 Canadian federal election: North Okanagan—Shuswap | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Expenditures | |||
| Conservative | Darrel Stinson | 24,014 | 46.39% | – | $73,168 | |||
| New Democratic | Alice Brown | 12,528 | 24.20% | – | $36,696 | |||
| Liberal | Will Hansma | 11,636 | 22.47% | – | $51,772 | |||
| Green | Erin Nelson | 2,333 | 4.50% | – | $960 | |||
| Marijuana | Blair Longley | 492 | 0.95% | – | $400 | |||
| Independent | Gordon Campbell | 401 | 0.77% | – | ||||
| Canadian Action | Claire Foss | 257 | 0.49% | – | $1,558 | |||
| Independent | K. No. Daniels | 104 | 0.20% | – | ||||
| Total valid votes | 51,765 | 100.00% | ||||||
| Total rejected ballots | 174 | 0.34% | ||||||
| Turnout | 51,939 | |||||||
| Quebec provincial by-election, September 20, 2004: Nelligan | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Yolande James | 7,812 | 52.58 | |||||
| Independent | Michel Gibson | 4,038 | 27.18 | |||||
| Parti Québécois | Sahar Hawili | 1,538 | 10.35 | |||||
| Action démocratique | Tom Pentefountas | 1,039 | 6.99 | |||||
| Green | Ryan Young | 251 | 1.69 | – | ||||
| UFP | Josée Larouche | 120 | 0.81 | – | ||||
| Bloc Pot | Blair Longley | 58 | 0.39 | |||||
| Total valid votes | 14,856 | 100.00 | ||||||
| Rejected and declined votes | 62 | |||||||
| Turnout | 14,918 | 28.60 | ||||||
| Electors on the lists | 52,163 | |||||||
| Sources: Official Results, Government of Quebec | ||||||||
| 2003 Quebec general election: D'Arcy-McGee | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | ||||
| Liberal | Lawrence Bergman | 23,968 | 91.29 | +0.68 | ||||
| Parti Québécois | Mathieu Breault | 1,087 | 4.14 | +1.02 | ||||
| Action démocratique | Sylvain James Bowes | 520 | 1.98 | +0.73 | ||||
| Equality | William F. Shaw | 406 | 1.55 | -2.81 | ||||
| Bloc Pot | Blair T. Longley | 274 | 1.04 | – | ||||
| 1988 Canadian federal election: Vancouver Quadra | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| Liberal | John Turner | 24,021 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative | Bill Clarke | 16,664 | ||||||
| New Democratic | Gerry Scott | 11,687 | ||||||
| Reform | J.R. Jack Ford | 1,112 | ||||||
| Rhinoceros | John Turner (no relation) | 760 | ||||||
| Libertarian | Walter Boytinck | 129 | ||||||
| Communist | Bert Ogden | 75 | ||||||
| Independent | Albert A. Ritchie | 74 | ||||||
| Independent | Blair T. Longley | 52 | ||||||
| Confederation of Regions | Nora Galenzoski | 35 | ||||||
| Commonwealth of Canada | G.J. Joseph Jackman | 23 | ||||||
| Independent | Allen Soroka | 22 | ||||||
| 1984 Canadian federal election | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | ||||||
| New Democratic | Svend Robinson | 28,318 | ||||||
| Progressive Conservative | Bill Langas | 20,697 | ||||||
| Liberal | Mike Hillman | 9,612 | ||||||
| Green | Blair T. Longley | 364 | ||||||
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ "Leaders and Parties -Blair Longley Marijuana Party". CBC.ca. Archived from the original on March 30, 2016. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
- ^ Bio from the Marijuana Party website
- ^ Kassam, Ashifa (June 7, 2018). "One party is dreading marijuana legalization: the Marijuana party". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
- ^ Harris, Kathleen (October 22, 2018). "Party's over? Legalization could spell the end of the Marijuana Party". CBC News. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
- ^ McKenzie-Sutter, Holly (October 4, 2019). "N.L. Marijuana Party hopeful misses nomination deadline over paperwork confusion". CTV News Atlantic. Retrieved June 12, 2020.
- ^ Lum, Zi-Ann (October 27, 2018). "Canada's Marijuana Party Leader Is Pissed About Pot Legalization". HuffPost Canada. Retrieved June 12, 2020.