Most interviews start with a formal introduction and pleasantries. For the previous Rhinoceras Party leader, Sébastien CôRhino, this was far from the case.
The 39-year-old answered Humber Et Cetera’s phone call with a jovial hello, before detailing his plans to make “fruit supper” while his two children inquisitively spoke about the interview to both CôRhino and Et Cetera. One child even grabbed the phone from their father, asking if the reporter was coming over for dinner.
This type of candidness is to be expected for a party like this. The party was founded in 1963 by humourist groups and writer Jacques Ferron. The party’s objective was to “make Canadians laugh while laughing at politicians.”
The party is most active in Quebec. According to Elections Canada, Quebec has 15 Rhinoceros Party candidates running. Only seven candidates are running in Ontario.
Its website outlines campaign promises for categories that range from the environment to healthcare. The party proposed solutions such as addressing the nurse shortage by providing steroids to employees, or encouraging carpooling by installing breaks in the passenger side of all vehicles.
The jokes within the Rhinoceros Party’s platform weren’t what initially drew CôRhino to the party, however. It was for political beliefs deeper than that.
As a 22-year-old in 2008, CôRhino knew he wanted to go into politics to make a difference. He debated between options such as the NDP and Bloc Québécois, before realizing he didn’t want to be part of a well-known party.
“[If] you wanna become somewhat inside a political party, you had to climb the ladder," he said. "But the thing is to climb a ladder for 20 years to have a good place inside parliament, you have to shut up on things you want to say from time to time, because you have to follow the party line.
"Either you be a front man and say good things, or you sit back and you’re a backbencher and you don’t do nothing,” CôRhino said.
As a result, he joined the Rhinoceros Party, where he said he didn’t have to follow a party line. He ran in the Sherbrooke riding in Quebec in 2008, garnering 0.92 per cent of votes, according to Elections Canada. That support, or lack of it, was something he said didn’t bother him, as he believes losing is “part of the joke.”
CôRhino eventually became party leader in 2014, before stepping down in 2024. He said he quit because he believes it’s important that someone does not become a politician as a career.
“I’ve seen people do that. They have really great ideas when they come into politics," he said. "They want to bring something and then they sit in parliament for five, 10, 15 years, and they’re not the same.
“I’ve seen that so many times. Really, good, young people going into politics and forgetting where [they came from],” CôRhino said.
Instead, the Rhino Party leader is now Chinook Blais-Leduc. Although Blais-Leduc is not running, CôRhino said he is helping other Rhinoceros Party candidates campaign in Montreal.
CôRhino said the new leader engages heavily with the community for his campaign. He participates in protests with groups such as Free Palestine, creates art pieces with chalk outside of McGill University with people, and hosts happy hours from Monday to Friday.
CôRhino, despite living in Rimouski, Que., is currently running in the Carleton riding in Ontario for the federal election, the same riding as Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre. He said his official campaign slogan is, “They’re all good. Vote for all of them.” As for his campaign promises, he told them in a more playful and unserious tone.
“It’s important for the local businesses to have more work and more jobs for everyone. And of course, very important for elders and young people to have jobs. Every person in the riding will have jobs,” he said.
Alongside him are 74 other independent candidates representing the Longest Ballot Committee, bringing the ballot up to 91 candidates.
This is not the first time the Longest Ballot Committee has run. CôRhino said the Rhinoceros Party-associated committee has successfully run four times before this.
The first time was for the 2021 federal election in the Saint Boniface-Saint Vital riding in Manitoba, where 21 candidates were on the ballot. The most recent was the 2024 federal by-election in the LaSalle-Émard-Verdun riding in Quebec, where 91 candidates’ names were on the ballot.
CôRhino said the point of the Longest Ballot Committee is to act as a protest. He said the system isn’t changing because politicians break their promises.
CôRhino is referring to the previous prime minister, Justin Trudeau’s campaign promise in 2015 for electoral reform, which he later abandoned and never fulfilled during his time in office.
“We’re voting for one person on the ballot with this Westminster system that was invented in rural England 300 years ago,” he said.
“We have an electoral system where everything is updating really fast around us, and this rudimentary system is not. It should’ve been changed 40 to 60 years ago,” he said.
Now, CôRhino is more focused on moving on with his life outside of politics. He said he hopes to publish an autobiography at some point in the future. He also said he has been cooking more often, inventing new recipes in his kitchen.
Regardless of his departure as party leader for the Rhinoceros Party, he said he wants young people to stay active in politics.
“When I quit last year, I said, 'I give this political party to the young people. Take it and make what you want with it.' Young people, if you are interested in joining the party, just join and become the crazy person in your hometown,” he said.
