1. John C Turmel was born on February 22,1951 and is a perennial candidate for election in Canada, and according to the Guinness World Records holds the records for the most elections contested and for the most elections lost, having contested 112 elections and lost 111.
John Turmel has participated in several protests outside of Canada's major banking institutions, saying that bank interest promotes poverty and starvation in the third world.
John Turmel wears a white construction helmet, when campaigning, and calls himself "The Engineer".
John Turmel spent most of his life in Ottawa but has made Brantford, Ontario, his home since 2003 after running in a by-election there and finding he liked the area where he could play high-stakes Holdem Poker professionally at the Brantford Charity Casino.
John Turmel received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa in 1976 with a specialization in the mathematics of gambling and became Teaching Assistant to Walter Schneider in the course until 1978 when he was fired for running a highly publicized Blackjack "21" game in the Faculty Club.
In 1981, John Turmel was convicted and jailed for 21 days for keeping a gaming house and playing 21, he lost the appeal but had the sentence converted to 100 hours community service playing accordion in old-age homes.
In 1991, John Turmel was convicted in Gatineau, Quebec, of running a common gaming house and sentenced to 4 months in jail.
John Turmel was convicted and sentenced to 200 hours community service playing accordion in retirement homes.
John Turmel ran again as an independent in the February 1980 federal election in Ottawa Centre.
When Fabien Roy accepted the nomination without a convention, John Turmel ran again as an independent against the Social Credit candidate.
John Turmel opposed the appointment of Martin Hattersley as interim leader of the federal Social Credit party as being undemocratic.
Raymond John Turmel ran as an independent against O'Malley in the by-election held in Joliette, Quebec on the same day, claiming to be the "real Social Credit" candidate.
John Turmel argued that the party was violating its constitution by holding a vote without providing four months' notice to its members.
John Turmel denied the report, but the journalist stood by her story.
In June 1982, John Turmel returned to Hamilton West to run in a provincial by-election as a candidate of the Christian Credit Party that he had recently founded.
The John Turmel brothers said that they left the party because it had compromised its principles on interest rates.
John Turmel said he disbanded his party because he realized voters would not give it a chance.
John Turmel ran as an independent candidate in the Central Nova riding by-election in September 1983 against Progressive Conservative leader Brian Mulroney.
John Turmel claimed to be a "member of the Abolitionist wing of the PC party".
John Turmel ran as an independent candidate in the December 13,1984, provincial by-election in Ottawa Centre, and Serge Girard ran in Ottawa East.
Also in 1985, John Turmel appears to have founded the "Social Credit Party of Ontario", which was not affiliated with other social credit parties.
John Turmel led a campaign against the practice of cheque cashing agencies that cashed social assistance cheques at a discount to the face value.
John Turmel issued ID card to SA recipients and recruited local retailers to cash the cheques at no discount.
John Turmel ran in an April 1986 provincial by-election in Toronto-York East and an August 14 provincial by-election in Cochrane, Ontario, apparently under the "Social Credit Party of Ontario" banner.
In June 1987, John Turmel ran in a federal by-election in Hamilton Mountain.
John Turmel was reported to be "attempting to form" an Ontario Social Credit Party.
John Turmel founded the Abolitionist Party of Canada, which nominated 80 candidates in the 1993 federal election, one more than the Green Party of Canada.
In 1994, John Turmel won over 4,500 votes running for Chair of Ottawa-Carleton Regional Municipality, the largest number of votes in his career.
In June 1996, John Turmel ran under the Abolitionist Party banner in a Hamilton East federal by-election and lost.
John Turmel won 4,126 votes running for Chair of Ottawa-Carleton Regional Municipality in 1997, in which Bob Chiarelli defeated Peter Clark by 2,798 votes.
John Turmel ran for the board of the National Capital FreeNet after the previous board reduced the number of seats from 7 to 5.
John Turmel came 6th, and argues he was cheated out of the only election he ever won.
John Turmel appeared in the 1997 Guinness Book of World Records for most elections contested.
John Turmel ran as an "independent Abolitionist" in a September 14,1998, federal by-election in Sherbrooke, Quebec.
In 2002, John Turmel attempted to run for the leadership of the Marijuana Party but the leadership election was called off after John Turmel showed up to contest the election.
John Turmel won 295 votes as an independent candidate in Brant riding in the 2003 October provincial election.
John Turmel tried to resurrect the Libertarian Party of Canada, but was prevented from doing so when former members re-registered the name first.
John Turmel ran as an independent candidate and placed fifth with 120 votes in a May 13,2004, provincial by-election in Hamilton East.
John Turmel was convicted of drug possession in March 2006, resulting from a one-man protest on Parliament Hill in Ottawa three years earlier.
John Turmel had taken three kilograms of marijuana to the hill, and openly smoked a joint in front of politicians and security officials.
In 2003, John Turmel acted as a party to Hitzig v Canada, a civil suit instrumental in reforming the Marihuana Medical Access Regulations and the status of medical cannabis in Canada generally.
John Turmel ran as an independent candidate in a 2008 by-election in the riding of Guelph.
John Turmel yelled out his objections so loudly that the moderator of the debate could not be heard.
John Turmel was eventually removed from the venue, the River Run Centre, by the Guelph police.
On September 10,2009, police were called after John Turmel lost control and disrupted an all-candidates meeting during the provincial by-election in Ontario's St Paul's riding.
Angry at a moderator's rule which forced residents to direct their questions at four of eight candidates, thus effectively limiting his opportunity to speak, John Turmel lashed out and ran around the church hall shouting at debate panelists and audience members that he'd go back onstage when he could answer too.
John Turmel stated that he would "ruin everyone's night" because "mine was ruined".
On January 13,2010, John Turmel appeared on the CBC television show Dragons' Den pitching his Local exchange trading system scheme, asking the panel of entrepreneurs to invest $100,000 for a program which would use poker chips from a local casino as currency at local businesses in Brantford, Ontario.
John Turmel initiated a lawsuit against the CBC as a result of the program.
John Turmel's complaint was rejected by the Ontario Court of Appeal in July 2011.
John Turmel continues to maintain that the show was a "smear job".
John Turmel indicated that he would be willing to serve as prime minister if offered the role by Canada's elected parliamentarians, as per William Aberhart's rise to the premiership of Alberta in 1935 if the Engineer's Dream Team of chosen other party candidates were elected.
John Turmel contested the 2011 Ontario provincial election as founder and leader of the newly formed Pauper Party of Ontario.
John Turmel ran on a campaign pushing for mass production of marijuana to fight cancers he says are coming from the "nuclear fallout that hit us from Fukushima".
John Turmel ran again as a Pauper candidate in the February 13,2014 provincial by-election in Thornhill placing last with 49 votes.
On June 6,2018, John Turmel appeared as a witness before the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs regarding the Trudeau Government's proposed changes to the Canada Elections Act.
John Turmel discussed the time banking software "LETS", being arrested, and being invited to give speeches at the United Nations.