By Greg Hoekstra
Centretown voters will face yet another name on an already crowded ballot as Raymond Samuèls has announced his intentions to join the race for Ottawa Centre in the upcoming federal election.
Samuèls will represent the newly formed Cosmopolitan Party of Canada, a group that just recently announced its intentions to run early in 2004.
Members have deemed their party a “socially progressive political choice,” that also recognizes and upholds certain principles from Canada’s history.
“We consider ourselves a progressive centrist party and we would embrace the nationalist vision of Sir John A. Macdonald and the idealism of Tommy Douglas,” says Samuèls, a Toronto native and author with a background in interdisciplinary M.A. studies and Ph.D. studies in political science, multiculturalism and constitutional law at the University of Toronto.
Samuèls, the party’s provisional interim leader, has been active in Canadian politics since the mid-1980s and has worked with both the Progressive Conservative and Liberal parties of Canada.
He has also taught law at the college and university levels, and worked for the government of Canada in executive labour-management relations.
In August 2003, however, Samuèls joined forces with like-minded individuals to ponder the creation of a new alternative, and after pulling together over 200 signatures from across the country, the Cosmopolitan Party of Canada was born.
“Since that time we have expanded, and it’s our intention to have a whole slate of candidates in this coming election, focused on quality of life themes,” says Samuèls.
These “quality of life themes,” as well as the party’s conception, are a response to existing problems within Centretown, according to Samuèls.
“We’re concerned about the decline in the social fabric in the Centretown area and how that is also reflective of the decline in the social fabric in Canada in general.”
The area of utmost concern and the primary order of business would be the alleviation of homelessness in the riding, Samuèls says.
In fact, if elected, Samuèls claims he would donate part of his salary towards the creation of an institution that would “channel resources” for those in need, such as the community’s homeless and students struggling to remain above the poverty line.
According to Samuèls, a lack of spiritual ideals has contributed in part to the malaise and social decline of the country as a whole.
This explains why the Cosmopolitan Party’s platform includes a comprehensive listing of political and spiritual values.
“These are basically values which transcend religion and transcend even to people who don’t necessarily have religion, but have concern about how we treat each other as human beings,” say Samuèls, insisting the party has no affiliation with any organized religion.
But there’s a chance the party’s inclusion of spirituality could jeopardize its legitimacy, says Jonathan Malloy, an assistant professor of political science at Carleton University.
“Generally in Canadian politics, even fairly vague spiritual values don’t necessarily attract a lot of support,” says Malloy.
Yet Samuèls is confident voters will recognize the validity of his party as a socially progressive alternative, despite the fact that he’ll be going head-to-head with NDP heavyweight Ed Broadbent.
“People have become aware that the NDP, as an organization, cannot be relied on either – they have become jaded in terms of their interests,” says Samuèls.
Vicky Smallman, spokesperson for Broadbent’s campaign, maintains this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
She says their support continues to grow under Jack Layton’s leadership.
“Our membership increases on a daily basis,” says Smallman.
“I’ve never seen the people in the party, both old and new, more excited about the prospects of the NDP.”