Reform party, in the United States

Reform party, in the United States, political party founded in 1995 by H. Ross Perot Perot, H. Ross (Henry Ross Perot), 1930–, American business executive and political leader, b. Texarkana, Tex., grad. Annapolis, 1953. In 1957 he resigned his commission and became a salesman for IBM.
..... Click the link for more information. as an alternative to the Democratic and Republican parties. The Reform party's aims originally included mandating high ethical standards for the president and Congress, balancing the budget, enacting term limits term limits, statutory limitations placed on the number of terms officeholders may serve. Focusing especially on members of the U.S. Congress, term limits became an important national political issue during the late 1980s and early 90s and have been vigorously
..... Click the link for more information. , enacting an equitable tax code, and achieving campaign finance and other electoral reforms. In 1996 the party nominated Perot for the presidency, with Patrick Choate as his running mate, but with 8% of the vote Perot did not fare as well as he had in 1992.

After Perot's defeat, the party lapsed into comparative obscurity. It revived with the first election of one of its candidates to a major office—ex–professional wrestler Jesse Ventura, who won the Minnesota governorship in 1998. Ventura became the party's de facto leader, but the Perot contingent continued to have a substantial influence on its policies and direction. The Perot faction was dealt a blow at the party's national convention in 1999 when the Ventura-backed candidate, John J. "Jack" Gargan, was elected chairman, but tensions between Perot and Ventura supporters led Ventura to resign from the party early in 2000 and resulted in Gargan's ouster as chairman. Tension continued into 2002, when several state parties broke their ties with the national party.

Although many of its members called the party centrist, its political ideology was not sharply defined by 1999, and a broad spectrum of candidates was considered for its 2000 presidential nomination. Patrick J. Buchanan, a strongly conservative polemicist and former Republican, captured much of the party's machine from the old guard aligned with Perot and secured the nomination. Buchanan chose African-American Ezola Foster as his running mate and moved the party to the extreme right on many issues. The Perot faction held their own convention and nominated John Hagelin for president, but Buchanan was recognized as the nominee by the Federal Election Commission. Both candidates fizzled at the polls, winning barely .5% of the vote combined. In 2004 the party endorsed independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader Nader, Ralph (nā`dər), 1934–, U.S. consumer advocate and political reformer, b. Winsted, Conn.
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Reform party, in Canada

Reform party, in Canada: see Canadian Alliance Reform party of Canada, which was founded in 1987 in Winnipeg, Man., as a W Canada–based conservative alternative to the Progressive Conservative party . Fiscally conservative and strongly in favor of tax cuts, the Alliance was also strongly federalist.
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Reform Party

Political movement in Canada in the 1830s and '40s. Reformers in Upper Canada (later Ontario) led by Robert Baldwin urged that provincial governments be made accountable to elected legislative assemblies (“responsible government”). An extremist group led by William L. Mackenzie opposed the government in the rebellion of 1837. Reformers in Lower Canada (later Quebec) joined Louis Papineau and his Patriote Party. Reform Party candidates were elected premier (1842–43, 1848–54) in the province of Canada (union of Upper and Lower Canada). In the 1850s the party split between a moderate group, which allied with John Macdonald's Progressive Conservative Party, and a radical faction, the Clear Grits, from which the Liberal Party emerged.