Federal election candidate strikes comedic campaign note: 'Vote for the clown'
Retired school principal running for Rhinoceros Party in Sarnia says he has no budget, just a red nose and a slogan
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SARNIA – Anthony Mitchell, a retired elementary school principal running for the Rhinoceros Party in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong, says he has no campaign budget, just a red nose and a slogan.
“If you think politics is a joke and Parliament is a circus, vote for the clown,” said the Oil City resident representing the satirical political protest party in the April 28 federal election.
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Mitchell said he has “absolutely” no experience as a politician.
“A couple of years ago, a colleague suggested I should run, and I said, ‘There’s no party in their right mind that would have me as a candidate, because they know I wouldn’t toe the party line.’”
Mitchell said he stopped voting a few years ago. “I was just tired of having to hold my nose and vote for somebody,” he said. “That’s when I remembered the Rhinoceros Party and looked them up.”
Mitchell said the party “is not picky. They just want someone to run. If you have a pulse, you’re good.”
He added: “I said, ‘I’m going to do that just so I can express my compete disgust with the political system and get it off my chest.'”
After getting the party’s OK, he met Elections Canada’s requirements and is now a registered candidate.
Also running in Sarnia-Lambton-Bkejwanong are Jacques Boudreau for the Libertarian Party of Canada, Lo-Ann Chan for the NDP, Conservative Marilyn Gladu, the incumbent MP, and Liberal George Vandenberg. Nominations close Monday.
“I’m running a zero-dollar campaign,” Mitchell said. “If you start collecting money and spending money, you have to have your books audited. That’s a pain.”
He set up a Facebook page, Tony Mitchell-Rhinoceros Candidate, where he posts videos, wearing the clown nose and accompanied by a rubber chicken, to share “some of my stupid campaign ideas.”
One is his call to remove the GST that Canadians pay and replace it with a tax on all foreigners living abroad. Any country refusing to collect it would face a lifetime ban “on maple syrup and Nickelback CDs,” he said.
Mitchell doesn’t believe politicians and political parties have Canadians’ best interests at heart and his candidacy gives like-minded folks “an opportunity to vote (for) none of the above.”
Mitchell, who grew up in Sarnia, said he’s married, though “my wife doesn’t admit that she’s married to me during the election,” he said. He has two children and six grandchildren.
“My hobbies are going to concerts and festivals,” he said. “I brew my own beer in my garage.”
Mitchell taught for 18 years and spent 11 years as an administrator before retiring a decade ago, though he still does some work as a substitute principal. “It pays for the concert addiction,” he said.
He plans one traditional bit of campaigning: speaking at riding all-candidates meetings.
The Rotary Club of Sarnia is hosting an all-candidates meeting at 12:15 p.m. Tuesday at the Dante Club in Sarnia.
Members of the public wishing to attend can register by email at myles@theinnsarnia.ca and indicate if they’d also like lunch at a cost of $25. Registration deadline is 10 a.m. Monday.
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