Elizabeth "Liz" White is a Canadian politician and animal rights activist residing in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, 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....

. She is the current leader of the Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada

Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada

The Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada is a small registered political party in Canada. It was formed by two organizations, the Animal Alliance of Canada and Environment Voters. The latter had previously been organized as a subsidiary of the former...

, a minor federal political party in 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...

.

Animal Alliance of Canada

Liz White works full time in for the Animal Alliance of Canada. She is a current member of the Board of Directors of the organization and deals with issues regarding legislation and media relation. She has been with the organization since the 1980s.

White also supports the complete boycott of Canada's seafood industry and is against the seal hunt. White herself is a vegan and advocates a vegan lifestyle.

Prior to her work with the Animal Alliance, White was the director of the Toronto Humane Society

Toronto Humane Society

The Toronto Humane Society is a Toronto charity that operates animal shelters and animal rescue operations. It was founded by crusading journalist John J. Kelso after he added the comment “Why don't we have a society for the prevention of cruelty?” to a November 1886 letter in the Toronto World...

.

Animal Alliance Environmentalist Voters founding

White founded the Animal Alliance Environmentalist Voters Party in 2005 after laws passed by the Liberal

Liberal Party of Canada

The 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...

 government forced the Animal Alliance an Animal rights lobby group who supported election campaigns of candidates of any stripe who were favorable to advancing animal rights on the federal and provincial level to register as a third party. The party took advantage of a Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...

 ruling that allowed Political parties to be registered by only running a single candidate.

White ran as the only candidate for the party in the electoral district of Toronto Centre

Toronto Centre

Toronto Centre is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto , Toronto Centre , Rosedale and Toronto Centre—Rosedale .Toronto Centre covers the heart of...

 during the 2006 Canadian 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:...

. Her candidacy allowed the new party to archive registration status as a full political party and the benefits that come with being registered.

White ran against the Liberals to protest the Liberal caucus in the Senate blocked passage of an Animal cruelty bill in 2003.

White ran a minimal on paper campaign. On election night the Animal Alliance played a marginal impact on the race in Toronto Centre. White won a total of 72 votes taking 0.12% of the popular vote in her district, she finished second last in the field of eight candidates finishing ahead of Marxist-Leninist candidate Philip Fernandez. The party finished last in the overall election standings. The district was held by long time Liberal incumbent Bill Graham.

2008 by-election

Liberal incumbent Bill Graham resigned his seat to let former Premier of Ontario Bob Rae run for a seat in Parliament. White ran for office representing the party for the second time in the Toronto Centre by-election held on March 17, 2008.

White along with Green candidate Chris Tindal were the only two candidates that contested the Toronto Centre election in 2006. Despite the higher voter turnout White's impact in the race was marginal, she finished fifth out of six candidates contesting the by-election slightly ahead of Canadian Action Party candidate Doug Plumb.

2008 federal election

Less than seven months after the March by-elections, White is leading a team of four candidates in the 2008 federal election. White asked and was denied a spot in the national leaders debate

White has been quoted as saying that she and her party are running not to get people elected, but to help raise important issues not being addressed by major candidates. Her party is running on a platform that includes ending the seal hunt, animal rights and stopping climate change. Her local platform for the campaign in Toronto Centre calls for the removal of the Gardiner Expressway

Gardiner Expressway

The Frederick G. Gardiner Expressway, colloquially referred to as "the Gardiner", is a municipal expressway in the Canadian province of Ontario, connecting downtown Toronto with its western suburbs...

 and banning guns.

White ran her campaign for the third time in Toronto Centre against incumbent Liberal Bob Rae. She was unsuccessful for the third time.

Electoral record

2008 Canadian federal election Canadian federal election, 2008 The 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...  - Toronto Centre
	Name	Affiliation	Vote	%	Bob Rae	Liberal	27,577	53.6%	David Gentili	Conservative	9,405	18.3%	El-Farouk Khaki	NDP	7,744	15.1%	Ellen Michelson	Green	6,081	11.8%	Johan Boyden	Communist	193	0.4%	Liz White	Animal Alliance	187	0.4%	Gerald Derome	Independent	155	0.3%	Philip Fernandez	Marxist-Leninist	92	0.2%

March 17, 2008 by-election: Toronto Centre
	Name	Affiliation	Vote	%	Bob Rae Bob Rae Robert Keith "Bob" Rae, PC, OC, OOnt, QC, MP is a Canadian politician. He is the Member of Parliament for Toronto Centre and interim leader of the Liberal Party of Canada....	Liberal	14,187	59.2%	El-Farouk Khaki El-Farouk Khaki El-Farouk Khaki is a Canadian refugee and immigration lawyer, and human rights activist on issues including gender equality, sexual orientation, and progressive Islam. He was the New Democratic Party's candidate for the House of Commons in the riding of Toronto Centre in a March 17, 2008 by-election...	NDP	3,299	13.8%	Chris Tindal	Green	3,263	13.6%	Donald Meredith Don Meredith (Canadian clergyman) Don Meredith is an ordained minister in Canada, executive director of the GTA Faith Alliance which focuses on the issue of youth violence, particularly involving gangs and guns, and a member of the Canadian Senate...	Conservative	2,982	12.5%	Liz White	Animal Alliance	123	0.5%	Doug Plumb	Canadian Action Canadian Action Party The Canadian Action Party is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1997. It promotes Canadian nationalism, monetary and electoral reform, and opposes neoliberal globalization and free trade agreements.- Background :The Canadian Action Party was founded by Paul T...	97	0.4%

2006 Canadian 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:...  - Toronto Centre Toronto Centre Toronto Centre is a federal electoral district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the Canadian House of Commons from 1872 to 1925, and since 1935, under the names Centre Toronto , Toronto Centre , Rosedale and Toronto Centre—Rosedale .Toronto Centre covers the heart of...
	Name	Affiliation	Vote	%	Bill Graham	Liberal Liberal Party of Canada The 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...	30,874	52.2%	Michael Shapcott Michael Shapcott Michael Shapcott is a Canadian social activist and academic best known for his work on housing and anti-poverty issues in Toronto.Trained as a lawyer Shapcott came to public attention in the late 1980s and early 1990s for his work in BASIC which became the "Breads Not Circuses" coalition which...	New Democrat New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party , commonly referred to as the NDP, is a federal social-democratic political party in Canada. The interim leader of the NDP is Nycole Turmel who was appointed to the position due to the illness of Jack Layton, who died on August 22, 2011. The provincial wings of the NDP in...	14,036	23.74%	Lewis Reford	Conservative Conservative Party of Canada The 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...	10,763	18.21%	Chris Tindal	Green Green Party of Canada The Green Party of Canada is a Canadian federal political party founded in 1983 with 10,000–12,000 registered members as of October 2008. The Greens advance a broad multi-issue political platform that reflects its core values of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy and...	3,080	5.21%	Johan Boyden	Communist Communist Party of Canada The Communist Party of Canada is a communist political party in Canada. Although is it currently a minor or small political party without representation in the Federal Parliament or in provincial legislatures, historically the Party has elected representatives in Federal Parliament, Ontario...	120	0.20%	Michel Prairie	Independent	101	0.17%	Liz White	Animal Alliance Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada The Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada is a small registered political party in Canada. It was formed by two organizations, the Animal Alliance of Canada and Environment Voters. The latter had previously been organized as a subsidiary of the former...	72	0.12%	Philip Fernandez	Marxist-Leninist Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) The Communist Party of Canada is a Canadian federal Marxist–Leninist political party.The party is registered with Elections Canada as the Marxist–Leninist Party of Canada...	66	0.11%

External links

• Animal Alliance of Canada
• Animal Alliance Environment Voters of Canada