Donald Pennell, who had previously been a candidate for the Ontario Liberal Party in the Burlington South riding during the 1975 provincial election, was chosen as the FCP's first leader.

The minor breakthrough was made, according to FCP leader Giuseppe Gori, through the democratization of the internet beyond the mainstream media[13] and hope for a form of proportional representation ballot electoral reform.

[15] The loss of traction in 1995 was blamed on the true blue wave of the Common Sense Revolution by the Mike Harris led Ontario PCs, taking with it a large swatch of anti-abortion socially conservative constituency from the traditional FCP base of support via the "Mulroney Effect" as was coined by the Campaign Life Coalition.

The FCP's intent was both to indicate their opposition to cloning technology, and to suggest that the major parties were identical in ignoring family issues, using the slogan "Liberal, Tory, NDP same old status quo story".

[citation needed] The FCP supported the 2007 electoral reform referendum for a mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) hybrid voting system.

[14] The FCP set, according to the Toronto Star, a record for the number of family members running as candidates in a single election in 2007.

After the 2011 provincial election, the FCP worked on local advocacy campaigns within various communities around the province, most notably involving the challenge of Bill 13, the anti-bullying legislation introduced by the Ontario Liberal government.

[21] The FCP stated in early 2014 that it intends to become more active and visible between elections, to better represent what it calls the "traditional-principled" electorate in Ontario, which led it to move closer towards a grassroots participatory democratic political ideology.

[7] He later withdrew from the race and endorsed Greg Vezina of the None of the Above Party of Ontario, which he stated shared the NRP's "3Rs of Democracy" idea of responsible government, referendum, and recall.

The NRP supported increasing personal and spousal tax exemption, and providing assistance to single mothers who choose to carry a pregnancy to term.

For one example, the NRP opposed the privatization and firesale of Hydro One by the Wynne Ontario Liberal government to pay down the debt and balance the budget,[35] as it had no mandate from its recent majority election having not run on the idea and is just a "quick cash grab to pay short term projects and past financial mistakes" which run counter to free market economics.

[36] New Reform Ontario supported a reduction in the size of government, and "the long-term removal of all measures that insulate industries, businesses, financial institutions, professions and trade unions from domestic and foreign competition".