The Christian Freedom Party of Canada, also known as the Christian Freedom/Social Credit Party of Canada, was an unregistered Canadian political party that was active from 1988 to 1996. It grew out of the Social Credit Party of Canada, and for most of its existence, it was registered under the Social Credit name. Origins In 1986, the Rev. Harvey Lainson defeated Holocaust denier Jim Keegstra to become leader of Canada's moribund Social Credit Party. Although Lainson ran on a right-wing platform, he was not associated with Keegstra's ideology. After becoming Social Credit leader, Lainson rebranded the party as the Christian Freedom Party of Canada. According to its official literature, the party was centred on three principles: "God is creator of the universe," "the Bible is the Word of God," and "Jesus Christ is Lord." It also described the human individual as "the most important of all God's creations," and opposed any system of government that was considered to favour the rights of the state over the rights of the individual. When evangelist Ken Campbell became leader of the Social Credit Party in 1990, he continued to describe it as the Christian Freedom Party in public addresses. For tax purposes, it was still called the Social Credit Party on official party documents. Political activities in the 1990s Campbell announced in 1992 that he would run as a Christian Freedom candidate in the next federal election, but that he had no intention of winning and simply wanted a platform to express his religious convictions. He added that he would encourage voters to support the Reform Party because of its populist leanings. (Campbell had done the same thing in the 1991 Toronto mayoral election, when he entered the campaign to encourage voters to support June Rowlands.) He clarified that his support for Reform was intended as a temporary alliance, and that he would withdraw his support if and when the party abandoned its original goals. As leader of the Christian Freedom Party, Campbell supported traditional social credit economic theory and called for a cap on borrowing charges applied by banks. He also promoted an anti-abortion message. Electoral history In May 1993, the Government of Canada approved changes to the Canada Elections Act requiring that political parties field at least fifty candidates in general elections to be registered with Elections Canada. Existing parties unable to meet this requirement were to be deregistered and have