James Sears

James Nicholas Sears (born Dimitrious Sarafopoulos on September 14, 1961) is a Canadian perennial candidate and professional pickup artist who also goes by the name Dimitri the Lover. Sears is trained as a physician and describes himself as a retired Canadian Armed Forces Medical Officer (Captain). In the 1980s while a medical student with the Canadian Armed Forces, Sears was noted for erratic behaviour, and graduated in 1988 despite "documented reservations". During his subsequent internship he was judged "immature" and entered psychotherapy in 1990. Following complaints from female patients, Sears' medical licence was revoked by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario in 1992 after pleading guilty to two counts of sexual assault.

In the 2014 Toronto civic election, Sears was a city council candidate in Ward 32 and received 797 votes (roughly 3% of the vote). His campaign included a website with an interactive animation that asked users to choose one of three playable characters, Rob Ford, Vladimir Putin or Adolf Hitler to "spank" the bare bottom of a cartoon caricature of city councillor Mary-Margaret McMahon, Sears's rival in the election.

He also ran in the 2015 federal election as an independent candidate (no party affiliation) and placed fifth out of seven candidates, getting 254 votes (less than 0.5% of the vote).

Sears is editor in chief of Your Ward News, a digital newspaper which promotes the New Constitution Party, an unregistered neo-Nazi political party led by Sears. The newspaper used to be printed and distributed as a flyer in the east Toronto neighbourhood of The Beaches. The vanity publication, which claimed to have a circulation of 50,000, was criticized for using antisemitic caricatures and language, described by former Canadian Jewish Congress Chief Executive Officer Bernie Farber as "classic anti-Semitic tropes" and "a clear attempt at a hateful representation of Jews". On June 6, 2016, the Government of Canada ordered Canada Post to cease delivery of the paper.