The Northern Ontario Party (NOP), called the Northern Ontario Heritage Party (NOHP) until 2016, is a provincial political party in Ontario, Canada. It was formed in 1977 to campaign for provincial status for Northern Ontario. No member has ever been elected to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. travelled Northern Ontario in the late 1960s and early 1970s to promote the idea of creating a separate province, and to sign up supporters for the party. Prior to launching the party, Deibel had been a business owner and a member of the North Bay City Council.
The party later dropped the idea of a separate province from its platform. It continued to promote Northern Ontario's interests within Ontario.
The party disbanded in 1985; it remained inactive until being revived and re-registered by Elections Ontario in 2010. In its initial form, the party did not advocate separation; instead, it campaigned for changes to the region's status and political power within the province. The idea of full separation was restored to the party's platform in 2016, but dropped again in 2018.
Origins of the party
The NOHP had its roots in the April 1973 provincial budget, in which the Government of Ontario proposed to extend the seven per cent provincial sales tax to heating and electricity. Deibel notified the local media that he would go to jail before paying the tax. This led to a meeting of about 500 people, and the formation of a tax repeal committee chaired by Deibel. The committee collected 24,000 signatures from all over Northern Ontario on a petition; the government ultimately withdrew the proposal. This led to a half-hour private meeting with Premier William Davis, who refused to allow a plebiscite. Pope denied the claim and never crossed; The party's new leader, Ronald Gilson, promptly reinstated separation from Ontario as the party's primary goal. Don Joynt, the executive director of the provincial Commission on Election Contributions and Expenses, revealed that in its year-end return for 1983, the party had listed just ninety cents in assets and only four card-carrying members. On August 6, 2010, the party was registered by Elections Ontario.
In its initial platform, the revived Northern Ontario Heritage Party called for a number of measures to increase the region's power over its own affairs within the province, including increasing the number of Northern Ontario electoral districts in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and the creation of a special district for the region's First Nations voters. Holliday, previously a bus driver for Ontario Northland, was converted to Northern Ontario separation when the government of Dalton McGuinty announced plans in 2012 to shut down the service, and attracted media attention early in 2016 when he created an online petition on change.org which eventually attracted over 4,000 signatories. Under Holliday's leadership, the party restored separation from Ontario to its platform. as well as calling for a referendum to revise the province's school board structure.
In the 2018 Ontario general election, the party again dropped separation from Ontario from its campaign platform, and returned to advocating for measures to improve the region's standing within the province, such as the creation of special Northern Ontario-only government ministries.
In April 2019, Trevor Holliday resigned as leader of the Northern Ontario Party, in order "to ensure we have a leader that can communicate with the supporters, members, media and most importantly Northerners, in more than just English." He was succeeded as leader by Shawn Poirier, The party failed to win any seats in the 2022 Ontario general election.
Party leaders
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
|+ Northern Ontario Party
|-
! scope="col" | Name
! scope="col" | Term start
! scope="col" | Term end
! scope="col" | Riding(s) contested as Leader
! scope="col" | Notes
|-
! scope="row" | Ed Deibel
| 1977 || 1981 || None || First Leader of the Northern Ontario Heritage Party
|-
! scope="row" | Garry Lewis
| 1981 || 1983 || None ||
|-
! scope="row" | Ronald Gilson
| 1983 || 1985 || None || Party deregistered in 1985 for failing to file its annual contributions and expenses return for 1984
Election results
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders" style="text-align: center;"
|-
|+ Election results
|-
! scope="col" | Election year
! scope="col" | Party leader
! scope="col" | Votes
! scope="col" | %<br />(Northern Ontario)
! scope="col" | %<br />(Overall)
! scope="col" | No. of<br />candidates
! scope="col" | Seats
! scope="col" | +/−
! Legislative role
|-
! scope="row" | 2011
| rowspan="2" | Ed Deibel
| 676
| 0.22
| 0.02
| 3
| <small> </small>
| New Party
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2014
| 892
| 0.27
| 0.02
| 3
| <small> </small>
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2018
| rowspan="2"| Trevor Holliday
| 5,912
| 1.65
| 0.10
| 10
| <small> </small>
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2022
| 283
|
| 0.01
| 2
| <small> </small>
|
|
|-
! scope="row" | 2025
| Jacques Ouellette
| 656
|
| 0.01
| 3
| <small> </small>
|
|
|}
See also
- List of Canadian political parties
- Proposals for new Canadian provinces and territories