Phil Edmonston

Louis-Phillip Edmonston (26 May 1944 – 2 December 2022) was a Canadian consumer advocate, writer, journalist, and politician. Along with Andrew Scheer, he was one of the few politicians with dual American and Canadian citizenship to be elected to the Parliament of Canada.

Edmonston was best known for his series of annual Lemon-Aid car guides. and graduated from the Canal Zone College.

Consumer advocate In 1968, he founded the Automobile Protection Association (APA), which uncovered and disseminated information about automobile defects and successfully pressured the auto industry for several recalls. Edmonston was president of the APA until 1987. In that role, he worked on thousands of consumer claims against automobile manufacturers and won million-dollar settlements and hundreds of lawsuits for consumers.

Edmonston was the author of over 100 best-selling books on consumer rights and the automobile industry. (Another Quebec MP, Robert Toupin from Terrebonne, had previously crossed the floor to the NDP from the Progressive Conservatives in 1986.)

His relationship with the NDP was at times turbulent. During the 1989 leadership election, he threatened to resign from the party if Dave Barrett became leader. A Quebec nationalist, Edmonston was offended by Barrett's view that western alienation was more important than Quebec's grievances over the Constitution of Canada. Edmonston's differences with the NDP over its position on Canadian federalism and against decentralization and devolving powers to Quebec contributed to his decision not to run for re-election in 1993.

Personal life and death Edmonston was twice married with a son from his first marriage.

Edmonston died of melanoma in Panama on 2 December 2022, aged 78. There is a Phil Edmonston fonds at Library and Archives Canada.