Craig B. Chandler (born 1970) is a
Canadian businessman, pundit, and political and religious activist. He is a co-founder and executive director of the
Progressive Group for Independent Business. He was a candidate at the
2003 Progressive Conservative leadership convention and has also been a candidate for
Member of Parliament in Ontario and
Member of the Legislative Assembly in Alberta
.
Early political experience
As an undergraduate at
McMaster University in
Hamilton, Ontario in the late 1980s, Chandler joined the
Reform Party of Canada, where he was active as an organizer and fund-raiser.
In the
1993 federal election, Chandler ran as a Reform Party candidate in the riding of
Hamilton Mountain, finishing in a distant second place with 10,297 votes, behind
Liberal incumbent
Beth Phinney, who received 27,218.
Chandler moved to Alberta in 1995. He ran in the
1997 provincial election as a candidate for the
Social Credit Party of Alberta in the riding of
Calgary West, finishing with 1,100 votes, or 7.5% of the electorate.
He later rejoined the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada, and endorsed United Alternative candidate
Brian Pallister in the party's 1998
Progressive Conservative leadership convention.