Pommet was one of the Natural Law Party's "yogic flyers." In 1999, he attempted to create a housing project of one hundred and fifty units in Chelsea, Quebec, to provide funding for a college of natural medicine and a Maharishi Aruy-Vedic college.[1] Pommet ran for the Natural Law Party in three federal elections and one provincial election. A newspaper report from 1999 describes him as a seven-time former candidate, which suggests that he has run for municipal office as well.[2][3]
Jolicoeur has been a candidate of the Natural Law Party in the United Kingdom and Canada, and at the provincial level in Quebec. He identified as a health technician in 1993.[4][5]
Macleod is a musician. He has released an album entitled Comedies, Histories, Tragedies, and performed a solo concert at EcoFair 2003 (organized by the Maharishi University of Management).[7] He received 133 votes (0.32%), finishing seventh against Liberal incumbent Joe Volpe.
Darisse, also called Helene Darisse-Yildirim, is a teacher and video producer from the Niagara Falls area. She holds Bachelor of Education and Master of Arts degrees (Canada NewsWire, 17 December 2000), and is a member of the Ontario Straw Bale Building Coalition [1], and the Canadian Yoga Alliance.[2]
Darisse was a perennial candidate for the Natural Law Party at both the federal and provincial levels.
Rassenberg was born in Switzerland, and moved to Canada in her 20s. She has worked as an office administrator, bookkeeper, sales manager and real-estate estate[clarification needed] (Hamilton Spectator, 16 November 2000).
She was a frequent candidate for the Natural Law Party at both the provincial and federal levels.
During the 1999 provincial election, Roberts described the Natural Law Party's development as follows: "It's about providing a new paradigm. In the first stage, people just ignore it, and then they ridicule. Then, they admit that they agreed with it all along. We may still be at the early stages of that process, but it is coming." He was 45 years old at the time (Kingston Whig-Standard, 29 May 1999).
William Norman Amos was a property manager and real-estate salesperson in Niagara Falls.[8] He began practising transcendental meditation in 1974, and later became active with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi's international network.[9] He ran for the Natural Law Party of Canada four times and the Natural Law Party of Ontario twice, and was involved in the proposed Maharishi Veda Land Canada theme park in his home city.[10]
While running in a federal by-election in 1996, Amos argued that there was scientific proof that regular meditation by one per cent of the population would bring about a reduction in crime and unemployment rates.[11] He also promised to eliminate Canada's Goods and Services Tax, and suggested the introduction of a thirty per cent flat tax to eliminate Canada's deficit and debt (with the understanding that the rate would be reduced after such time).[12] When asked for his opinion on Canada's Young Offenders Act, he said that he would promote meditation in youth jails to reduce crime.[13] He was forty-nine years old at the time.[14]
Blondin has a Master of Education degree. She was a frequent candidate for the NLP at the provincial and federal levels. During the 1995 provincial election, she described herself as having twenty-eight years' experience as a teacher in the Ottawa-Carleton French School Board, and fifteen years' experience with transcendental meditation.[3]
David Gordon is an advertising executive, and was based in Toronto during the period of his federal campaigns. He gave demonstrations in "yogic flying" during the 1993 federal election, and argued that the Natural Law Party would allow young Canadians to "gain enlightenment and perfection in their own lives and at the same time materialize their noble sentiments for an ideal civilization in Canada".[15]
He ran for the Natural Law Party of Canada twice and was a candidate for the Natural Law Party of Ontario in 1995.
^He sought assistance from the Maharishi Global Development Fund to bankroll the project, which was estimated to cost about twenty million dollars. The idea does not seem to have come to fruition. See Kate Jaimet, "Yogic hopes fly high in Chelsea: Maharishi followers want to build houses to finance college," Ottawa Citizen, 19 January 1999, C2.
^Kate Jaimet, "Opposition candidates fight Liberal bastion in Hull-Aylmer," Ottawa Citizen, 13 November 1999, C3.
^"The Candidates: Niagara Falls", Hamilton Spectator, 2 June 1999, C2.
^Lee Prokaska and Jim Poling, "The baker's dozen byelection", Hamilton Spectator, 7 June 1996, B2.
^Lee Prokaska and Jim Poling, "The baker's dozen byelection", Hamilton Spectator, 7 June 1996, B2.
^Denise Davy, "13 battle for Hamilton East: The environment, gay rights and GST among issues debated by candidates", Hamilton Spectator, 23 May 1996, D5. See also Bill Amos, "Radiated coherence can solve problems", Hamilton Spectator, 13 June 1996, A8.
^John Mentek, "GST: each candidate offers a different solution", Hamilton Spectator, 24 May 1996, B1.
^Dan Nolan, "Candidates latch onto Young Offenders Act", Hamilton Spectator, 14 June 1996, B2.
^Lee Prokaska and Jim Poling, "The baker's dozen byelection", Hamilton Spectator, 7 June 1996, B2.
^Charlotte Parsons, "Heaven on Earth is party's main aim", Globe and Mail, 21 August 1993, A13.