The Reform Party of Canada fielded several candidates in the 1997 federal election, and won 60 seats out of 301 to form the Official Opposition.
[7] Hesp joined the Reform Party on the day he left the Canadian Regular Force in 1991, and ran under its banner in two federal elections.
[9] His brother George Ambas ran as an independent candidate in a 1996 by-election against federal cabinet minister Sheila Copps.
He worked in the financial sector in Europe and the United States for over two decades, and was the chief accountant and corporate secretary of a major bank in Toronto at the time of the 1997 election.
Stewart ran on a platform of "lower taxes, a balanced budget, increased health spending and decentralized federal powers" in the 1997, and also called for changes to the Young Offenders Act (Toronto Star, 30 May 1997).
He was also criticized for blaming child poverty on alcoholic parents, saying "If a family unit is receiving a certain amount of income and the husband or wife goes out, buys a bottle of booze and drinks it and because of that the children don't have enough to eat, I mean, how can governments control such things?"
He postponed a vacation to Hawaii in February 1990, to organize a protest against the planned federal Goods and Services Tax during a visit to Manitoba by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney.
[19] He was secretary-treasurer of the Council for Responsible Firearms Ownership in Manitoba in 1995, and organized a protest against Justice Minister Allan Rock's proposed gun control legislation in January of that year.
[21] Tardiff was acclaimed as the Reform Party's candidate for Provencher in the 1997 federal election, and received 12,798 votes (35.08%) for a second-place finish against Liberal incumbent David Iftody.
Initially a supporter of the Progressive Conservative Party, he voted for the Liberals in the 1993 election, out of frustration with Brian Mulroney's failed handling of the Meech Lake Accord.
At the time of the 1997 election, he was Director of Policy and Planning in the Manitoba provincial civil service, responsible for aboriginal justice, crime prevention, constitutional negotiations and other matters.
[2] Unlike others in his party, Yost argued that the Notwithstanding Clause of Canada's constitution cannot apply to Supreme Court decisions involved aboriginal matters.
[24] Yost won the Reform Party nomination over rival candidate Gary Hollingshead (Winnipeg Free Press, 5 March 1997).
Yost opposes special status for Quebec, and has called for more powers to be devolved to Canada's provinces (Winnipeg Free Press, 10 May 1998).
Yost, who was forced to evacuate his own home, described the election timing as a "callous disregard for the people of southern Manitoba" (Winnipeg Free Press, 23 May 1997).
Alcock's victory was due in part to his decision to turn his election headquarters into a flood relief centre (Winnipeg Free Press, 3 June 1997).