Miguel Figueroa

Miguel Figueroa (born July 29, 1953) has been the leader of the Communist Party of Canada since 1992.

Early political career
Figueroa was born in Montreal. He was a student activist with the National Union of Students joining its staff as national organizer.

He joined the Communist Party in 1977 and held many positions within it including party organizer in Vancouver from 1978 to 1985, and leader of the party's Atlantic branch (based in Halifax) from 1986 to 1992. While leader of the Atlantic branch, Figueroa chaired an organizing committee that signed up 800 part-time seasonal professors and teaching assistants at Dalhousie University, ultimately leading to membership in the Canadian Union of Public Employees.

The implosion of the Soviet Union led to internal party weaknesses within the CPC. Under the leadership of general secretary George Hewison (1988–91), the leadership of the CPC and a segment of its general membership began to abandon Marxism-Leninism as the basis of the Party's revolutionary perspective, and ultimately moved to liquidate the Party itself, seeking to replace it with a left, social democratic entity.

The protracted ideological and political crisis created much confusion and disorientation within the ranks of the Party, and paralysed both its independent and united front work for over two years. Ultimately, the Hewison-led majority in the party voted to abandon Marxism-Leninism. An orthodox minority, led by Figueroa and former leader William Kashtan, resisted this effort and, after being defeated at the party's 1992 convention, were expelled from the party. As a result, they took the Communist Party to court. An out-of-court settlement resulted in the Hewison leadership relinquishing the name "Communist Party of Canada" to the minority, while taking most of the old party's assets to the Cecil-Ross Society, a publishing and educational foundation previously associated with the party.

A convention was held in December 1992 in which delegates declared themselves to be the continuation of the Communist Party (thus the meeting was titled the 30th CPC Convention). Delegates rejected the changes instituted by Hewison by reaffirming the CPC as a Marxist-Leninist organization. Since most of the old party's assets were now the property of the Hewison-led Cecil Ross Society, the CPC convention decided to launch a new newspaper, the People's Voice, to replace the old Canadian Tribune. The convention elected a new central committee with Figueroa as the Party's leader.

The new party, with only a few hundred members, was much smaller than the old one and had lost a number of assets, including the party's headquarters at 24 Cecil Street in Toronto. The CPC was not in a position to run fifty candidates in the 1993 federal election, the number required to maintain official party status. As a result, the newly-relaunched CPC was deregistered by Elections Canada, and its remaining assets were seized by the government. A prolonged legal battle, Figueroa v. Canada ensued, resulting in a Supreme Court of Canada ruling in 2003 that overturned a provision in the Elections Act requiring fifty candidates for official party status (the number had been increased by an act of parliament in the intervening years). Earlier in the legal battle, the party had its deregistration overturned and its seized assets restored.

Figueroa has run in five Canadian general elections and at least two provincial elections:


 * British Columbia general election, 1979: Figueroa ran in the two-member riding of Vancouver Centre, and finished eighth in a field of eight candidates with 237 votes. Gary Lauk and Emery Barnes of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia won.
 * Canadian federal election, 1984: Figueroa ran in the riding of Vancouver East, and finished last with 259 votes. Margaret Mitchell of the New Democratic Party won.
 * Canadian federal election, 1988: Figueroa ran in the riding of Halifax, and finished 5th in a field of 7 candidates with 151 votes. Mary Clancy of the Liberal Party of Canada won.
 * Canadian federal election, 1993: Figueroa ran as an independent in the riding of Parkdale—High Park, and finished 9th out of a field of 11 with 105 votes. Jesse Flis of the Liberals won.
 * Ontario general election, 1995: Figueroa ran in the riding of Beaches—Woodbine, and finished 5th in a field of six candidates with 169 votes. Frances Lankin of the New Democratic Party of Ontario won.
 * Canadian federal election, 1997: Figueroa ran as an independent in the riding of Davenport, and finished 7th in a field of 8 with 194 votes. Charles Caccia of the Liberals won.
 * Canadian federal election, 2000: Figueroa ran in the riding of Toronto—Danforth, and finished 9th in a field of 10 with 129 votes. Dennis Mills of the Liberals won.
 * Canadian federal election, 2004: Figueroa ran in the riding of East York-Beaches in Toronto, and finished 7th in a field of 8 with 62 votes. Maria Minna of the Liberals won.