Also in 1985, Turmel appears to have founded the "Social Credit Party of Ontario", which was not affiliated with other social credit parties. Turmel led a campaign against the practice of cheque cashing agencies that cashed social assistance (SA, or welfare) cheques at a discount to the face value. Turmel issued ID card to SA recipients and recruited local retailers to cash the cheques at no discount. The Social Credit Party of Ontario guaranteed these cheques. In November, Turmel supporter Walter McPhee ran for Ottawa mayor and Turmel for Nepean mayor. This proved to be Turmel's best performance by percentage of the vote, as he collected 7.25% of the vote, as he was the only other candidate against mayor Ben Franklin.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.