George Dance (politician)

George Dance is a politician and political activist in Ontario, Canada. He has been a member of the Libertarian Party of Canada and the Ontario Libertarian Party since the mid-1970s, and has served as interim leader of both parties.

Dance listed his occupation as stock clerk, layout artist, freelance typesetter and office manager on various occasions between 1979 and 1993. For more than ten years (1987–1998) he edited and published Libertarian Bulletin, the Ontario Libertarian Party's newsletter.

Like many others in his party, Dance has called for increased privatization. He is an opponent of anarchism, and describes himself as a "proper-government libertarian" (i.e., supporting a government that recognizes and respects individual liberties). Dance is also an opponent of restrictions on public smoking.

Dance ran for Leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada in 1990, coming in second to Stanislaw Tyminski. He succeeded to the leadership when Tyminski left Canada in 1991 to run for President of Poland. Dance held the position until May 1993, when Hilliard Cox was chosen to replace him. In 1992, Dance indicated that his party might seek an electoral alliance with the Freedom Party of Ontario. The Freedom Party soon rejected this suggestion.

Dance also served as interim leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada from 1995 to 1996.

Dance served on the executive of the Ontario Libertarian Party from 1985 until 2008, for the last twelve years as party chairman. He became the party's leader following the resignation of John Shadbolt on June 9, 1995. As party leader, he contested a 1996 by-election in York South. He held the position until Sam Apelbaum was selected at a delegated convention in late 1996. Dance was elected chairman at the same 1996 convention. He retired from the office in 2008.

In January 2009, the Western Standard ranked Dance at #62 in its "Liberty 100" list of "Canadians who have advanced economic and personal liberty" in 2008.

Electoral record

 * Ontario general election, 1975, Wilson Heights, 366 votes (winner: Vern Singer, Liberal)
 * Canadian federal election, 1979, Davenport, 156 votes (winner: Charles Caccia, Liberal)
 * Canadian federal election, 1980, York South—Weston, 299 votes (winner: Ursula Appolloni, Liberal)
 * Canadian federal election, 1984, York—Scarborough, 1,067 votes (winner: W. Paul McCrossan, Progressive Conservative)
 * Ontario general election, 1985, Scarborough—Ellesmere, 348 votes (winner: David William Warner, New Democratic Party)
 * Ontario general election, 1987, Scarborough Southwest, 485 votes (winner: Richard Johnston, New Democratic Party)
 * Canadian federal election, 1988, Brampton, 593 votes (winner: John McDermid, Progressive Conservative
 * federal by-election, July 13, 1990, Oshawa, 117 votes (winner: Michael Breaugh, New Democratic Party)
 * Ontario general election, 1990, Scarborough West, 401 votes (winner: Anne Swarbrick, New Democratic Party)
 * Canadian federal election, 1993, Scarborough Centre, 153 votes (winner: John Cannis, Liberal)
 * Ontario general election, 1995, Scarborough West, 214 votes (winner: Jim Brown, Progressive Conservative)
 * provincial by-election, May 23, 1996, York South, 77 votes (winner: Gerard Kennedy, Liberal)
 * Ontario general election, 2007, Scarborough Southwest, 296 votes (winner: Lorenzo Berardinetti, Liberal)