In 1992, a majority of delegates at the Communist Party's national convention voted to abandon Marxism-Leninism and pursue a social democratic alternative. Rankin was a part of the minority group led by Miguel Figueroa that opposed the change, and continued to support traditional communist principles. The party split, and the minority group won the rights to the Communist Party name through an out-of-court settlement. Rankin was appointed as interim leader of the Communist Party of Canada - Ontario in April 1995, and led the party in the 1995 provincial election. The national party had fallen to only 500 members in this period, and the Ontario party ran a low-profile campaign with only five candidates and an $8,000 budget. Rankin challenged New Democratic PartyPremierBob Rae in York South, and focused on issues such as health, education, social programs and full employment. In June 1995, Rankin contributed an article entitled "Observations on the Setbacks to Socialism" to the Communist Party discussion journal The Spark!. The piece examined then-recent events in Eastern Europe, including the fall of the Soviet Union.
CPC-Manitoba leader
Rankin moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba in 1995 following the Ontario election. The Communist Party of Canada - Manitoba had been without effective leadership for several years, and Rankin was chosen as the party's provincial organizer before the year was over. He coordinated the CPC-M's 75th anniversary banquet in early 1996, and was elected party leader later in the year. He subsequently led the party in the 1999, 2003 and 2007 provincial elections. In January 2004, Rankin was challenged for the CPC-M leadership by Paul Sidon. He received 79% of delegate support, against 21% for Sidon. Rankin is a founding member of Peace Alliance Winnipeg and a member of the No War Coalition. He helped organize protests against the 1999 Kosovo Conflict, the 2001 NATO invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 invasion of Iraq. He wrote an article for the People's Voice, the newspaper of the Communist Party, supporting Slobodan Milošević's policies in Kosovo in order to protect Serbians from Albanians in the region whom Rankin labelled as "Fascists." He continued to write occasional articles for People's Voice. In November 2007, he organized a party at Winnipeg's Ukrainian Labour Temple to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. Rankin has campaigned for public office several times, although he has never been elected. In March 2006, he was the leader of Communist Party of Canada's Peace and Disarmament Coalition. He is not related to Naomi Rankin, the leader of the Communist Party of Canada - Alberta. Rankin ran in Winnipeg Centre during the 2015 federal election.
Table of offices held
The CPC-M had been without a leader since at least 1990, and possibly longer.
It is not clear if the CPC-O had a recognized leader between 1992 and 1998, apart from Rankin's short tenure in 1995. Hassan Husseini was chosen as leader in 1998.
Electoral record
All electoral information is taken from Elections Canada, Elections Ontario and Elections Manitoba. Provincial election expenditures in Manitoba refer to individual candidate expenses. Italicized expenditures refer to submitted totals, and are presented when the final reviewed totals are not available.
