Joe Hueglin

Who is Joe Hueglin?

Joseph Fred Hueglin is a former Canadian Member of Parliament and a founder of the Progressive Canadian Party.

Born in Stratford, Ontario, Hueglin was elected to Parliament in 1972 in the riding of Niagara Falls as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. In 1974 Hueglin was defeated by the Liberal candidate.

Along with David Orchard, Hueglin has been among the most vocal opponents of the 2003 merger of Canada's two prominent right-wing parties, the Progressive Conservatives and the Canadian Alliance, into the Conservative Party of Canada. He has expressed discomfort over the way the merger took place - which involved PC leader Peter MacKay breaking an anti-merger promise he made while campaigning to be the party leader - and the "neoconservative" aspects of Alliance policy, which he feared may dominate the new party's policies.

In 2004, Hueglin became a lead organizer for the Progressive Canadian Party, which he has described as a centrist party.