The New Blue Party of Ontario says that it is pleased with the results of the 2022 Ontario general election and its leader Jim Karahalios’ performance, despite not being able to obtain a seat.
The Ontario PC Party led by Premier Doug Ford won a second majority government in the provincial election with over 40% of the vote, while the New Blue Party placed fifth with 2.7% or 127,180 votes.
In a statement to True North, New Blue spokesperson Jackie Sallas said the overall results of the election “showed Ontario voters are not inspired by the establishment parties.”
According to Sallas, the New Blue party does not intend to undergo a leadership review.
“We will keep moving forward with Jim Karahalios as leader because he did an incredible job accomplishing more (in our first election campaign) than what any other leader of a ‘new’ party in recent Ontario history was able to accomplish,” said Sallas.
She added that Karahalios was capable of bouncing back following an osteosarcoma diagnosis, repeated political attacks from the Ontario PC Party and what she describes as an “orchestrated and constant undermining of his leadership by those who were under the influence of PC operatives.”
As for what Ontarians can expect in Ford’s second term, Sallas says New Blue sees “another four years like the previous four.”
“That means four more years of the Doug Ford PC Party continuing the legacy of the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals and continuing to govern as the Ontario provincial wing of the Justin Trudeau Liberal Party of Canada.”
The New Blue Party was founded by Jim Karahalios and his wife Belinda in Oct. 2020 amid the Ford government’s draconian lockdown measures.
Belinda Karahalios had been elected as the PC MPP for the riding of Cambridge in the 2018 Ontario election, but was removed from caucus in Jul. 2020 after she voted against the PC government’s controversial Bill 195, which gave Ford emergency powers without the imposition of a state of emergency.
After her expulsion, Belinda Karahalios fought the Ford government’s lockdown policies along with other former PC MPPs including Roman Baber and Randy Hillier. Belinda also fought against Bill 67, an NDP private members bill which experts warned could lead to the entrenchment of Critical Race Theory in Ontario Schools.
In the 2022 election, the New Blue Party promised to end Covid-19 mandates, renew political accountability, defund the legacy media, grow Ontario’s economy, cut taxes, reform education and restore the dignity and transparency in Ontario’s healthcare.
New Blue did however also face controversy after Jim Karahalios accused other right of centre politicians of having “secret deals” with Ford’s PCs.
Neither Jim nor Belinda Karahalios were successful in winning their respective races, with Jim placing fifth in Kitchener-Conestoga with 5.9% of the vote and Belinda placing fourth in Cambridge with 11.1% of the vote.
After the 2021 federal election, the People’s Party of Canada conducted a leadership review and reconfirmed Maxime Bernier, with Bernier winning 95.6% of the vote.
