The Natural Law Party of Canada ran several candidates in the 1997 federal election, none of whom were elected.
Quebec
LaSalle-Émard: Russell Guest
Russell Guest became involved in transcendental meditation in the late 1960s, when he was a student at the University of British Columbia. He later became a transcendental meditation teacher and served on the board of directors for the Transcendental Movement in Canada. Guest paid tribute to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi upon the latter's death 2008, telling a Toronto Star reporter that the Maharishi "lived in bliss" and "always said that the underlying nature of life is bliss."
Guest ran for the Natural Law Party in two federal elections and one Quebec provincial election.
Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Lachine: Ronald Bessette
Bessette was a perennial candidate for the Natural Law Party. He listed himself as an architectural technician in the 1997 election.
He first sought election to the House of Commons of Canada in the 1993 election, and received 551 votes in Lachine—Lac-Saint-Louis for a sixth-place finish against Liberal Party candidate Clifford Lincoln. He was listed as residing in Pierrefonds, Montreal, Quebec at the time.
Bessette ran as a candidate of the Natural Law Party of Quebec in the 1994 Quebec provincial election, and received 226 votes in Marguerite-Bourgeoys for a sixth-place finish against Liberal Liza Frulla.
He later campaigned for the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in that province's 1995 provincial election, and received 263 votes (1.04%) for a sixth-place finish in Windsor—Sandwich. The winner was Sandra Pupatello of the Liberal. A newspaper report from the period lists him as residing in North York, Toronto, Ontario (Windsor Star, 26 May 1995).
He received 569 votes in the 1997 election, finishing fifth against Liberal candidate Marlene Jennings.
Ontario
Eglinton—Lawrence: Robyn Brandon
Brandon was an office worker with an interest in social methods of stress reduction. She received 397 votes (0.91%), finishing fifth against Liberal incumbent Joe Volpe.
Ottawa—Vanier: Roger Bouchard
Bouchard is an author, and has worked with l'Association des auteurs Franco-ontariens (Ottawa Citizen, 2 May 1997). He argued that the NLP would bring a "peaceful revolution" to Canada, and spoke in favour of an all-party government with experts from various social fields (Toronto Star, 21 September 1993). During the 1993 campaign, he wrote that he had been a practitioner of transcendental meditation for twenty years (Ottawa Citizen, 21 October 1993).
Parry Sound—Muskoka: Rick Alexander
Rick Alexander is from Huntsville and at one time worked as a teacher. He ran for the Natural Law Party in two federal elections and one provincial election.
He was forty-two years old in the 1993 campaign, lived in Ottawa, and was a project manager for the Heaven on Earth Development Corporation, the centre of the transcendental meditation movement in Canada. He called for an all-party system of government and said that centralization and inefficient social programs had caused the national deficit.
Sudbury: Roy Hankonen
Roy Hankonen described himself as a supervisor. He received 247 votes (0.62%), finishing sixth against Liberal incumbent Diane Marleau.
Manitoba
Larry Decter (Winnipeg South)
Decter was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Manitoba, and also attended Maharishi European Research University (MERU) in Switzerland. He worked as a researcher and teacher with the transcendental meditation movement.
Decter campaigned for the Natural Law Party in the 1993 and 1997 Canadian elections. He resided in Huntsville, Ontario during the 1993 campaign, and contested Windsor West in the same province. During this campaign, he has quoted as asserting, "There is no unemployment in nature; there are no unnecessary atoms in the universe. Everything has a place and a purpose. Yet we human beings, the most highly evolved species on the planet, have somehow lost touch with the unlimited intelligence and organizing power of natural law." (Windsor Star, 22 October 1993) He received 138 votes, finishing sixth against longtime Liberal incumbent Herb Gray.
He received 153 votes (0.40%) in 1997, finishing sixth against Liberal Reg Alcock.
Decter is likely related to Ron Decter, a prominent figure for the Natural Law Party in Manitoba.
Saskatchewan
Patrick James Coulterman (Wanuskewin)