Jean-Serge Brisson
Encyclopedia
Jean-Serge Brisson is a politician
in Ontario
, Canada
. He is the former leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada
, which he joined in 1986.
Brisson has conducted a personal campaign of civil disobedience
against Canada's seatbelt laws
since 1988. In 1975, he was involved in an automobile accident while driving a Chevy Vega, and was catapulted into the back seat as the car's roof was crushed. He is convinced that his decision not to wear a seatbelt on this occasion saved his life. As a libertarian
, he also opposes seatbelt laws on the grounds of personal discretion.
He spent twenty days in jail in 2000 after being convicted of driving while under suspension for not paying a seatbelt-related charge dating back to 1989, and was placed in solitary confinement after starting a hunger strike
. At the time of his incarceration, his unpaid fines relating to seatbelt violations and driving while under suspension totaled over $12,000.
Brisson has not submitted an income tax return since 1991, has never collected the federal Goods and Services Tax
(GST), and has not collected the provincial sales tax since 1991. He also opposes Canada's laws mandating usage of the metric system
.
Brisson became the Libertarian Party's de facto leader in 1997, when previous leader Robert Morse moved to Mexico
for a job position. He was appointed interim leader in 1998, and was elected party leader on May 22, 2000.
He is also an executive member of the Libertarian Party of Ontario. He has not campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons
since becoming leader of the federal party. Just before the 2004 federal election
, he had been elected councillor in his municipality, and felt it was improper to run in a federal election so close to the municipal election.
He withdrew from the 2006 federal election
after having filed a complaint against the Liberal Party of Canada on the illegal usage of $1.2 million from the sponsorship scandal
. Two letters filed with Elections Canada asking for the deregistration of the Liberal Party have not been answered by the agency.
Following three unsuccessful attempts (including a narrow miss in 2000), Brisson was elected to the municipal council of Russell Township
in November 2003 with 1,639 votes. As Councillor he opposed municipal legislation requiring all employees of local government to be proficient in both French and English. He was defeated in his bid for re-election on November 13, 2006 in the 2006 municipal election
.
In the 2010 municipal election on October 25, 2010, he unsuccessfully sought election to city council again. With 1,045 votes, he placed ninth out of the nine candidates seeking the four council sets.
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
in Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. He is the former leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada
Libertarian Party of Canada
The Libertarian Party of Canada is a political party in Canada that subscribes to the tenets of the libertarian movement across Canada.-History:...
, which he joined in 1986.
Biography
Brisson was raised in the francophone region of eastern Ontario, and still lives in Embrun. Since 1974, he has been the owner of Independent Radiators, a small welding business.Brisson has conducted a personal campaign of civil disobedience
Civil disobedience
Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal to obey certain laws, demands, and commands of a government, or of an occupying international power. Civil disobedience is commonly, though not always, defined as being nonviolent resistance. It is one form of civil resistance...
against Canada's seatbelt laws
Seat belt legislation
Seat belt legislation requires the fitting of seat belts to motor vehicles and/or the wearing of seat belts by motor vehicle occupants. The U.S. state of Wisconsin introduced legislation in 1961 requiring front seat belt anchorages to be fitted to cars. The Australian state of Victoria mandated...
since 1988. In 1975, he was involved in an automobile accident while driving a Chevy Vega, and was catapulted into the back seat as the car's roof was crushed. He is convinced that his decision not to wear a seatbelt on this occasion saved his life. As a libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
, he also opposes seatbelt laws on the grounds of personal discretion.
He spent twenty days in jail in 2000 after being convicted of driving while under suspension for not paying a seatbelt-related charge dating back to 1989, and was placed in solitary confinement after starting a hunger strike
Hunger strike
A hunger strike is a method of non-violent resistance or pressure in which participants fast as an act of political protest, or to provoke feelings of guilt in others, usually with the objective to achieve a specific goal, such as a policy change. Most hunger strikers will take liquids but not...
. At the time of his incarceration, his unpaid fines relating to seatbelt violations and driving while under suspension totaled over $12,000.
Brisson has not submitted an income tax return since 1991, has never collected the federal Goods and Services Tax
Goods and Services Tax (Canada)
The Goods and Services Tax is a multi-level value added tax introduced in Canada on January 1, 1991, by then Prime Minister Brian Mulroney and his finance minister Michael Wilson. The GST replaced a hidden 13.5% Manufacturers' Sales Tax ; Mulroney claimed the GST was implemented because the MST...
(GST), and has not collected the provincial sales tax since 1991. He also opposes Canada's laws mandating usage of the metric system
Metric system
The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...
.
Brisson became the Libertarian Party's de facto leader in 1997, when previous leader Robert Morse moved to Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
for a job position. He was appointed interim leader in 1998, and was elected party leader on May 22, 2000.
He is also an executive member of the Libertarian Party of Ontario. He has not campaigned for the Canadian House of Commons
Canadian House of Commons
The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 308 members known as Members of Parliament...
since becoming leader of the federal party. Just before the 2004 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2004
The Canadian federal election, 2004 , was held on June 28, 2004 to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 38th Parliament of Canada. The Liberal government of Prime Minister Paul Martin lost its majority, but was able to form a minority government after the elections...
, he had been elected councillor in his municipality, and felt it was improper to run in a federal election so close to the municipal election.
He withdrew from the 2006 federal election
Canadian federal election, 2006
The 2006 Canadian federal election was held on January 23, 2006, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 39th Parliament of Canada. The Conservative Party of Canada won the greatest number of seats: 40.3% of seats, or 124 out of 308, up from 99 seats in 2004, and 36.3% of votes:...
after having filed a complaint against the Liberal Party of Canada on the illegal usage of $1.2 million from the sponsorship scandal
Sponsorship scandal
The sponsorship scandal, "AdScam", "Sponsorship" or Sponsorgate, is a scandal that came as a result of a Canadian federal government "sponsorship program" in the province of Quebec and involving the Liberal Party of Canada, which was in power from 1993 to 2006...
. Two letters filed with Elections Canada asking for the deregistration of the Liberal Party have not been answered by the agency.
Following three unsuccessful attempts (including a narrow miss in 2000), Brisson was elected to the municipal council of Russell Township
Russell, Ontario
The Township of Russell is a municipal township, located south-east of Canada's capital of Ottawa in eastern Ontario, in the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, on the Castor River...
in November 2003 with 1,639 votes. As Councillor he opposed municipal legislation requiring all employees of local government to be proficient in both French and English. He was defeated in his bid for re-election on November 13, 2006 in the 2006 municipal election
Ontario municipal elections, 2006
In the 2006 municipal elections in Ontario, voters in the province of Ontario, elected mayors, councillors, school board trustees and all other elected officials in all of Ontario's municipalities. These elections were regulated by the .- Date :...
.
In the 2010 municipal election on October 25, 2010, he unsuccessfully sought election to city council again. With 1,045 votes, he placed ninth out of the nine candidates seeking the four council sets.
Electoral record (provincial and federal)
- Canadian federal election, 1988Canadian federal election, 1988The Canadian federal election of 1988 was held November 21, 1988, to elect members of the Canadian House of Commons of the 34th Parliament of Canada. It was an election largely fought on a single issue: the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement ....
, Glengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—Russell is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953...
, 335 votes (winner: Don BoudriaDon BoudriaDonald "Don" Boudria, PC is a former Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1984 to 2005 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien....
, LiberalLiberal Party of CanadaThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
) - Ontario general election, 1990Ontario general election, 1990The Ontario general election of 1990 was held on September 6, 1990, to elect members of the 35th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada....
, Prescott and RussellPrescott and Russell (electoral district)Prescott and Russell was a provincial electoral district that elected one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It existed from 1967 to 1999, when it was abolished into Glengarry—Prescott—Russell and Ottawa—Orléans when ridings were redistributed to match their federal counterparts...
, 618 votes (winner: Jean PoirierJean PoirierJean Poirier is a Canadian politician. He was a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario from 1984 to 1995.-Background:Poirier was educated at the University of Waterloo, receiving a B.E.S. degree in 1972...
, LiberalOntario Liberal PartyThe Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
) - Canadian federal election, 1993Canadian federal election, 1993The Canadian federal election of 1993 was held on October 25 of that year to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 35th Parliament of Canada. Fourteen parties competed for the 295 seats in the House at that time...
, Glengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—Russell is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953...
, 244 votes (winner: Don BoudriaDon BoudriaDonald "Don" Boudria, PC is a former Canadian politician. He served in the Canadian House of Commons from 1984 to 2005 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien....
, LiberalLiberal Party of CanadaThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
) - Ontario general election, 1995Ontario general election, 1995The Ontario general election of 1995 was held on June 8, 1995, to elect members of the 36th Legislative Assembly of the province of Ontario, Canada...
, Prescott and RussellPrescott and Russell (electoral district)Prescott and Russell was a provincial electoral district that elected one member to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. It existed from 1967 to 1999, when it was abolished into Glengarry—Prescott—Russell and Ottawa—Orléans when ridings were redistributed to match their federal counterparts...
, 626 votes (winner: Jean-Marc LalondeJean-Marc LalondeJean-Marc Lalonde is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is a former member of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, representing the riding of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell for the Ontario Liberal Party....
, LiberalOntario Liberal PartyThe Ontario Liberal Party is a provincial political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. It has formed the Government of Ontario since the provincial election of 2003. The party is ideologically aligned with the Liberal Party of Canada but the two parties are organizationally independent and...
) - Canadian federal election, 2008Canadian federal election, 2008The 2008 Canadian federal election was held on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 to elect members to the Canadian House of Commons of the 40th Canadian Parliament after the previous parliament had been dissolved by the Governor General on September 7, 2008...
, Ottawa SouthOttawa SouthOttawa South is a federal electoral district in Ottawa in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is represented in the Canadian House of Commons by David McGuinty, brother of Ontario Premier and Ottawa South MPP Dalton McGuinty. The riding was created in 1987 from parts of Ottawa—Vanier, Ottawa...
, 244 votes (winner: David McGuintyDavid McGuintyDavid Joseph McGuinty, MP is a Canadian lawyer politician from Ontario, Canada. He is the Member of Parliament for the riding of Ottawa South and sits in the Canadian House of Commons as the Liberal Party of Canada's Critic for Natural Resources...
, LiberalLiberal Party of CanadaThe Liberal Party of Canada , colloquially known as the Grits, is the oldest federally registered party in Canada. In the conventional political spectrum, the party sits between the centre and the centre-left. Historically the Liberal Party has positioned itself to the left of the Conservative...
) - Canadian federal election, 2011, Glengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—RussellGlengarry—Prescott—Russell is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons since 1953...
, 194 votes (winner: Pierre LemieuxPierre LemieuxPierre Lemieux is a politician in Ontario, Canada. He is the MP for the riding of Glengarry—Prescott—Russell in Canada's 39th general election. He represents the Conservative Party of Canada...
, ConservativeConservative Party of CanadaThe Conservative Party of Canada , is a political party in Canada which was formed by the merger of the Canadian Alliance and the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada in 2003. It is positioned on the right of the Canadian political spectrum...
)