Dorian Baxter (born 3 April 1950) is a Canadian religious minister and musician and a perennial candidate for political office in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. He was consecrated as an bishop in the Federation of Independent Anglican Churches in 2003.

Ministry

In 1996, Baxter began incorporating the music and look of Elvis Presley into his services. That year, he won the Canadian Showstopper at the Collingwood Elvis Festival. In 1997 he won the Grand Champion of Showstoppers at that same festival. After that year, festival founder Billy Cann was ousted and control given to the town's business groups, a decision which Baxter objected to before Collingwood Town Council. Baxter joined Cann to establish a competing Elvis festival in Orillia and refused to return to the Collingwood festival.^[1]

In 2002, the church revoked his invitation to be the keynote preacher at a Masonic service in a Toronto Anglican church (although he did eventually attend). Baxter has said he found this particularly difficult, as he has been a Freemason for more than 25 years.^[2]

In 2003, he set up an independent church, Christ the King Graceland Independent Anglican Church of Canada, in Newmarket, Ontario, where he continues to conduct services using Presley's music, with his signature Elvis pompadour and sideburns. Baxter was consecrated on 9 March 2003 in Newmarket by the Rt. Rev'd Christopher Andrew Jukes of Calgary, Alberta, who at that time was a bishop in the Communion of Evangelical Episcopal Churches, using the traditional ordinal of the Book of Common Prayer (1962 Canada). He also established the Federation of Independent Anglican Churches of North America with himself as self-styled archbishop; this organisation was incorporated by Federal Canadian Letters Patent on 1 October 2003.^[2]

Political life

Baxter has run for federal Parliament four times in the riding of Newmarket-Aurora, under the Progressive Canadian Party banner. In the 2004 federal election, he received 1,079 votes, placing last out of five candidates. In the 2006 election he received 729 votes, and in the 2008 election he received 1,004 votes. He placed fifth out of six candidates in both 2006 and 2008. In the 2011 election, he received 1,001 votes, placing fifth out of six candidates, surpassing only Yvonne Mackie of the Animal Alliance Environment party. Baxter also ran in the 2010 by-election in the riding of Vaughan, finishing seventh of out eight candidates with 110 votes. He ran in the by-election for Markham—Thornhill on 3 April 2017, placing fourth out of seven candidates.

He founded NAPPA (The National Association for Public and Private Accountability)^[3] on the heels of his successful lawsuit against the Durham Region Children's Aid society. (See judgement by Justice Somers, 22 March 1994. Baxter versus Durham Region Children's Aid Society).^[4]

Electoral record

Federal

2019 Canadian federal election: Newmarket—Aurora
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Tony Van Bynen	26,488	43.1	-2.08	$88,608.07
	Conservative	Lois Brown	23,232	37.8	-7.81	$74,278.42
	New Democratic	Yvonne Kelly	6,576	10.7	+2.19	$18,620.10
	Green	Walter Bauer	3,551	5.8	+3.44	none listed
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	901	1.5	+0.15	none listed
	People's	Andrew McCaughtrie	588	1.0	–	none listed
	Rhinoceros	Laurie Goble	104	0.2	–	none listed
Total valid votes/expense limit			61,460	100.0
Total rejected ballots			424
Turnout			61,884	67.3
Eligible voters			91,920
	Liberal hold		Swing		+2.87
Source: Elections Canada[5]

Canadian federal by-election, February 25, 2019: York—Simcoe Resignation of Peter Van Loan
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Scot Davidson	8,929	53.91	3.66
	Liberal	Shaun Tanaka	4,811	29.04	8.72
	New Democratic	Jessa McLean	1,244	7.51	1.38
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	634	3.83	--
	Green	Mathew Lund	451	2.72	0.37
	People's	Robert Geurts	314	1.90	--
	Libertarian	Keith Dean Komar	95	0.57	--
	Independent	John The Engineer Turmel	64	0.39	--
	National Citizens Alliance	Adam Suhr	22	0.13	--
Total valid votes/expense limit			16,564	99.43
Total rejected ballots			95	0.57	+0.09
Turnout			16,659	20.03	-43.23
Eligible voters			83,179
	Conservative hold		Swing		+6.19
Source: Elections Canada[6]

Canadian federal by-election, April 3, 2017: Markham—Thornhill Resignation of John McCallum
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Mary Ng	9,856	51.53	−4.19
	Conservative	Ragavan Paranchothy	7,501	39.22	+6.91
	New Democratic	Gregory Hines	671	3.51	−7.21
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	566	2.96
	Green	Caryn Bergmann	426	2.23	+0.98
	Libertarian	Brendan Thomas Reilly	118	0.62
	Independent	Above Znoneofthe	77	0.40
Total valid votes/expense limit			19,125	100.0	–
Total rejected ballots				-
Turnout			27.51
Eligible voters			69,838
	Liberal hold		Swing		−5.55

2015 Canadian federal election
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Kyle Peterson	25,508	45.18	+21.47	–
	Conservative	Lois Brown	24,057	42.61	−11.45	–
	New Democratic	Yvonne Kelly	4,806	8.51	−7.28	–
	Green	Vanessa Long	1,331	2.36	−2.03	–
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	762	1.35		–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			56,464	100.00		$219,391.75
Total rejected ballots			257	0.45	–
Turnout			56,721	68.25	–
Eligible voters			83,108
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing		+16.46
Source: Elections Canada[7][8][9]

Canadian federal by-election, November 25, 2013: Toronto Centre
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Chrystia Freeland	17,194	49.38	+8.37	$ 97,609.64
	New Democratic	Linda McQuaig	12,640	36.30	+6.09	99,230.30
	Conservative	Geoff Pollock	3,004	8.63	−14.01	75,557.39
	Green	John Deverell	1,034	2.97	−2.05	21,521.10
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	453	1.30		–
	Libertarian	Judi Falardeau	236	0.68	+0.18	–
	Independent	Kevin Clarke	84	0.24		560.00
	Independent	John "The Engineer" Turmel	56	0.16		–
	Independent	Leslie Bory	51	0.15		633.30
	Online	Michael Nicula	43	0.12		200.00
	Independent	Bahman Yazdanfar	26	0.07	−0.12	1,134.60
Total valid votes/expense limit			34,821	99.49	–	$ 101,793.06
Total rejected ballots			177	0.51	+0.12
Turnout			34,998	37.72	−25.21
Eligible voters			92,780
	Liberal hold		Swing		+1.14
By-election due to the resignation of Bob Rae.
Source(s) "November 25, 2013 By-elections Poll-by-poll results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 20 August 2020. "November 25, 2013 By-election – Financial Reports". Retrieved 9 May 2014.

Canadian federal by-election, March 19, 2012: Toronto—Danforth Death of Jack Layton
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	New Democratic	Craig Scott	19,210	59.44	−1.36	$ 82,847.22
	Liberal	Grant Gordon	9,215	28.51	+10.89	86,016.54
	Conservative	Andrew Keyes	1,736	5.37	−8.95	73,735.56
	Green	Adriana Mugnatto-Hamu	1,517	4.69	−1.77	57,955.38
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	208	0.64	–	1,473.73
	Libertarian	John C. Recker	133	0.41	–	2,433.05
	Independent	Leslie Bory	77	0.24	–	898.69
	Canadian Action	Christopher Porter	75	0.23	–	3,163.57
	Independent	John Turmel	57	0.18	–	–
	United	Brian Jedan	55	0.17	–	130.18
	Independent	Bahman Yazdanfar	36	0.11	–	622.86
Total valid votes/expense limit			32,319	100.00		$ 86,821.95
Total rejected ballots			150	0.46	−0.13
Turnout			32,469	43.58	−21.32
	New Democratic hold		Swing		−6.1
Source(s) "By-election March 19, 2012 – Official Voting Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved 29 October 2014. "Financial Reports: Candidate's Electoral Campaign Return – March 19, 2012 By-election". Retrieved 29 October 2014.

2011 Canadian federal election: Newmarket—Aurora
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lois Brown	31,600	54.29	+7.56
	Liberal	Kyle Peterson	13,908	23.90	−10.39
	New Democratic	Kassandra Bidarian	8,886	15.27	+6.80
	Green	Vanessa Long	2,628	4.52	−3.71
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	998	1.71	−0.18
	Animal Alliance	Yvonne Mackie	182	0.31
Total valid votes			58,202	100.00
Total rejected ballots			219	0.37
Turnout			58,421	64.01
Eligible voters			91,275

Canadian federal by-election, November 29, 2010: Vaughan resignation of Maurizio Bevilacqua on September 2, 2010
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Julian Fantino	19,290	49.10	+14.77	–
	Liberal	Tony Genco	18,326	46.65	-2.53	–
	New Democratic	Kevin Bordian	661	1.68	-7.96	–
	Green	Claudia Rodriguez-Larrain	481	1.22	-5.64	–
	Libertarian	Paolo Fabrizio	251	0.64	–	–
	Independent	Leslie Bory	111	0.28	–	–
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	110	0.28	–	–
	United	Brian Jedan	55	0.14	–	–
Total valid votes/expense limit			39,285	100.00		$114,412
Total rejected ballots			231	0.58	-0.16
Turnout			39,516	32.50	-19.42
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		-8.6

2008 Canadian federal election: Newmarket—Aurora
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Lois Brown	24,873	46.73	+8.68
	Liberal	Tim Jones	18,250	34.29	−11.93
	New Democratic	Mike Seaward	4,508	8.47	−1.12
	Green	Glenn Hubbers	4,381	8.23	+3.46
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	1,004	1.89	+0.65
	Christian Heritage	Ray Luff	211	0.40

2006 Canadian federal election: Newmarket—Aurora
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Belinda Stronach	27,176	46.22	+5.14
	Conservative	Lois Brown	22,371	38.05	−4.37
	New Democratic	Ed Chudak	5,639	9.59	−0.34
	Green	Glenn Hubbers	2,805	4.77	+0.30
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	729	1.24	−0.86
	Canadian Action	Peter Maloney	79	0.13

2004 Canadian federal election: Newmarket—Aurora
Party	Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Belinda Stronach	21,818	42.42	−2.43
	Liberal	Martha Hall Findlay	21,129	41.08	−9.48
	New Democratic	Ed Chudak	5,111	9.93	+6.18
	Green	Daryl Wyatt	2,298	4.47
	Progressive Canadian	Dorian Baxter	1,079	2.10	–
Total valid votes			51,435	100.00	–
Change is from redistributed 2000 results. Conservative change is from the total of Canadian Alliance and Progressive Conservative votes.

See also

• Elvis impersonator

References

External links

• Christ the King Graceland