The Communist Party of Canada - Ontario fielded a number of candidates in the 1977 Ontario provincial election, none of whom were elected. Information about these candidates may be found on this page.

Val Bjarnason ( Oakwood)

Bjarnason was a soldier during

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, commanding a Canadian tank regiment through dangerous conditions in

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. He subsequently became a prominent figure in the Canadian labour movement, serving as provincial organizer for the United Textile Workers in Ontario in the late 1940s. A ''

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'' report from 1947 indicates that he was involved with the

social-democratic Social democracy is a social, economic, and political philosophy within socialism that supports political and economic democracy and a gradualist, reformist, and democratic approach toward achieving social equality. In modern practice, socia ...

Cooperative Commonwealth Federation The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF; , FCC) was a federal democratic socialistThe following sources describe the CCF as a democratic socialist political party: * * * * * * and social-democraticThese sources describe the CCF as ...

during this period. He was

blacklist Blacklisting is the action of a group or authority compiling a blacklist of people, countries or other entities to be avoided or distrusted as being deemed unacceptable to those making the list; if people are on a blacklist, then they are considere ...

ed from the 1950 convention of the American Federation of Labour

Trades and Labour Congress of Canada The Trades and Labor Congress of Canada was a Canada-wide central federation of trade unions from 1886 to 1956. It was founded at the initiative of the Toronto Trades and Labour Council and the Knights of Labor. It was the third attempt at a n ...

on suspicion of being a

communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

. Bjarnason was national coordinator for the United Electrical Workers during the 1960s and 1970s. He became secretary-treasurer of the union in the 1970s, and served in the position until his retirement in 1984. He received media attention in 1979 for challenging Canadian

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Co. Ltd. over that company's attempt to gain access to the

social insurance number A social insurance number (SIN) ( (NAS)) is a number issued in Canada to administer various government programs. The SIN was created in 1964 to serve as a client account number in the administration of the Canada Pension Plan and Canada's varie ...

s of employees. He was also involved with international issues, and called for union boycotts of

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an goods during

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean military officer and politician who was the dictator of Military dictatorship of Chile, Chile from 1973 to 1990. From 1973 to 1981, he was the leader ...

's rule. Bjarnason moved to Kitchener following his retirement, and was an active member of the group Veterans Against Nuclear Arms. He criticized the

Gulf War , combatant2 = , commander1 = , commander2 = , strength1 = Over 950,000 soldiers3,113 tanks1,800 aircraft2,200 artillery systems , page = https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-PEMD-96- ...

in 1990. In 1996, he took part in a protest against the policies of the

Mike Harris Michael Deane Harris (born January 23, 1945) is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 22nd premier of Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and leader of the Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario (PC Party) from 1990 to 2002. Taking the PC ...

government as a member of the Ontario Provincial Federation of Union Retirees.Chris Aagaard, "Mass protest : Action Day draws thousands", ''Kitchener-Waterloo Record'', 20 April 1996, A1. See also Val Bjarnason, "Harris takes away what a generation fought for", ''Kitchener-Waterloo Record'', 28 February 1998, A12. He campaigned for the Communist Party of Canada - Ontario on two occasions.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Communist Party Candidates, 1977 Ontario Provincial Election

1977 Events January * January 8 – 1977 Moscow bombings, Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (no ...