Vote for Chester Brown in Trinity-Spadina!

Graphic novelist Chester Brown is running as a Libertarian in the Trinity-Spadina riding, against incumbent Olivia Chow (NDP):

What changed 48-year-old Brown's beliefs from passive anarchist to active Libertarian was how the issue of property rights factored into the tale of Riel's legendary resistances. While starting work on the script in 1998, he picked up The Noblest Triumph: Property and Prosperity Through the Ages by John Bethell, and was further influenced by the argument that the institution of private property was the biggest factor in the improvement of Western civilization.

"I realized there was a need for an agency that would protect those rights," says Brown. "And that agency would be the federal government."

Otherwise, the Libertarian philosophy would rather keep politicians as far out of people’s lives — only defining crime as a situation where somebody else was affected. For an artist like Brown, working full-time for the past 22 years in an illustrative medium that is all about being an outsider, the party turned out to be the one that suited his outlook.

"Politically, maybe I'd have considered myself among the NDP types, although I wasn't really all that interested," he says. "Yes, it was a nice thing that there's money distributed to poor people. Their stance on social issues or drug laws is something that generally fit my own.

"Becoming a Libertarian wasn't the easiest thing for me. At first, I thought, aren't those just a bunch of right-wing assholes? But when I met other party members I discovered there was a lot for me to agree with."

It must be said that Brown has a realistic view of his chances: "I'm pretty sure my political career will be coming to an end on October 15."