He is strongly influenced by social credit economic theories and has often called for reform of the Bank of Canada.
Long first sought election to the Canadian House of Commons in 1974, when he ran as a Social Credit candidate in Waterloo—Cambridge.
[5] Considered a fringe candidate, he nonetheless appeared at a public debate in Montreal with Kim Campbell, Jean Charest, and other contenders.
[8] Long then ran for Guelph—Wellington in the 1993 election as a candidate of the Canada Party, an ideological successor to Social Credit.
[14] During this contest, Long described himself as a "product developer, mechanical engineer, environmentalist and homespun economist.
[16] Long later sought the leadership of the Canadian Alliance in 2000, describing himself as a populist and calling for more plebiscites on controversial issues.
The foundry's previous owners had fled the country, leaving behind a company that was over one million dollars in debt.
One year after buying the property, Long was informed by the Ontario Ministry of Environment and Energy that he would be required to clean up toxic wastes at the site.
Long described the charge as politically motivated, said that the site was not producing new contaminants, and refused to pay.
[20] On December 31, 1993, Long transferred ownership of the site to the Assembly of the Church of the Universe, a religious sect based in Hamilton devoted to nudism and sacramental marijuana use.
In January 1996, he was sentenced to three months in jail and fined seventy-two thousand dollars for the improper storage of PCBs on the site.