Enver Villamizar, Marxist-Leninist candidate in the riding of Essex. (Photo courtesy of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada)Enver Villamizar, Marxist-Leninist candidate in the riding of Essex. (Photo courtesy of the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada)
Windsor

The Marxist Leninist Option In Essex

If the big three parties don't appeal to you, there is another option on October 19, the Marxist-Leninist Party.

Enver Villamizar is carrying the party's banner in the riding of Essex. Conservative MP Jeff Watson is also running for re-election in Essex against NDP candidate Tracey Ramsey, Audrey Festeryga with the Liberals and Green Party candidate Jennifer Alderson.

Villamizar says his party would pull Canada out of free trade agreements like NAFTA and the Trans-Pacific Partnership because they don't benefit Canadians directly.

"We would end those free trade agreements that are neo-Liberal in nature," says Villamizar. "They're not based on mutual benefit. They're just based on giving companies the right to do whatever they want and attack government that's trying to defend the public interest."

Villamizar says his second priority in Essex would be to give the citizenry greater say over education including school closures.

With 70 candidates running across Canada, Villamizar admits his party won't win a majority. He says a vote for the Marxist-Leninist Party would send a message to Ottawa Canadians want the economy to grow in a different direction.

The party dates back to 1963 when Hardial Bains founded the Internationalists at the University of British Columbia. The party has been running candidates in federal elections since 1974.

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