[11] The Rhinos were started in 1963 by Jacques Ferron,[12] "Éminence de la Grande Corne du parti Rhinocéros".

In the 1970s, a group of artists joined the party and created a comedic political platform to contest the federal election.

Ferron (1979), poet Gaston Miron (1972), and singer Michel Rivard (1980) ran against Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in his Montreal seat.

[13] It declared that the rhinoceros was an appropriate symbol for a political party since politicians, by nature, are "thick-skinned, slow-moving, dim-witted, can move fast as hell when in danger, and have large, hairy horns growing out of the middle of their faces".

In addition to the national platform promises released by the party leadership, individual candidates also had considerable freedom to campaign on their own ideas and slogans.

[19] Penny Hoar, a safe sex activist, distributed condoms in Toronto while running under the slogan: "Politicians screw you—protect yourself".

[40] They also declared victory after one election, claiming all candidates were Rhinoceroses, whether they knew or acknowledged it: thick-skinned, short-sighted, mean-tempered, etc.

[citation needed] Michel Rivard once went on television (during free air time given to political parties) and stated: "I have but two things to say to you: Celery and Sidewalk.

A British Columbia splinter group proposed running a professional dominatrix for the position of party whip, renaming "British Columbia" to "La La Land", moving the provincial capital, and merging with the Progressive Conservative Party so as "not to split the silly vote".

After two years of threatening letters, Ottawa refused to prosecute McKenzie, who now claims to hold the distinction of being Canada's "least-wanted fugitive".

Unregistered candidates included Geoff Berner, who received national wire service coverage for promising "cocaine and whores to potential investors".

François Gourd, a prominent Rhino, later started another political movement, the entartistes, who attracted attention in the 1990s by planting cream pies in the faces of various Canadian politicians.

[49] In 2006, he led a group that set up Neorhino.ca in an attempt to recapture the Rhinoceros Party spirit,[50] and ran as a Neorhino candidate in the 2007 Outremont by-election.

There were also a number of unsuccessful attempts to revive the Rhinos as a legally incorporated political party, though this was not fully achieved until Neorhino.ca.

Legally changing his name to Sa Tan, he had planned to run under the Rhino banner in the September 2007 by-election.