Elections Canada warned the Liberals to stop ballot exploitation; now, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s comeback race risks being hijacked by 200 protest ‘candidates.’
The Chief Electoral Officer warned the Liberals last year to amend the law and prevent ballot exploitation. However, the call went unanswered. Now, Elections Canada tells True North the concerns remain, and Poilievre’s upcoming by-election may see him fall victim again to ballot padding.
A protest group behind Canada’s longest-ever election ballots is now targeting the Alberta riding of Battle River–Crowfoot, aiming to run up to 200 candidates in the by-election Poilievre hopes will see him return to Parliament.
Poilievre lost his long-held Carleton seat to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy after the Longest Ballot Committee contributed to a one-metre-long ballot with 91 candidates. The same group has begun recruiting candidates to appear on the Battle River–Crowfoot ballot. The 91-name ballot in the recent federal election tied a Canadian record, matching a ballot influenced by the same group in a 2024 Quebec by-election.
“In the past few days, we’ve received dozens and dozens of emails from people asking to join the ballot for the upcoming by-election in Battle River–Crowfoot,” the group said in an email. “We will do our best to make a long ballot happen if we get at least 200 people signing up to be candidates.”
The committee confirmed that each candidate needs 100 local voters to nominate them, but that candidates do not need to live in the riding and that it’s free to enter the election as a candidate.
The electoral district had an estimated population of 107,979 in 2021.
Elections Canada states that the 100 people who consent to a person’s candidacy have to be qualified electors and live in the electoral district where the candidate intends to run.
A spokesperson for Elections Canada told True North the Elections Act does not prohibit someone from being an official agent for more than one candidate, and that any change to that law would require an Act of Parliament.
The spokesperson added that without new legislation, any candidate who fulfils all the conditions for candidacy will have their name included on a ballot, assuming they’re a Canadian citizen over the age of 18 years old.
Despite winning Battle River–Crowfoot with around 80 per cent of the vote, Conservative Damien Kurek stepped down as the seat’s MP so that Poilievre could run in a by-election in the Alberta riding.
Poilievre laid out his path to return to Parliament after Prime Minister Mark Carney said he would call a by-election at the earliest possible opportunity.
The Longest Ballot Committee said it would be canvassing to collect nomination signatures from residents in the riding.
The committee was formerly partnered with the Rhinoceros Party and actively protests the first-past-the-post electoral system and other perceived election-related issues.
The Chief Electoral Officer previously highlighted his concerns after the Longest Ballot Committee helped the 2024 Quebec by-election’s ballot reach 91 candidates.
“In the case of the Longest Ballot Initiative, we have seen nomination papers for the various participating candidates signed by the same electors. This indicates that voters who sign the nomination papers are not supporting the nomination of a particular candidate, but rather the idea of having as many candidates as possible, whomever they may be (consistent with the goals of the longest ballot initiative),” he said.
The Chief Electoral Officer added that he wrote to Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs Dominic LeBlanc to request that voters can only support the nomination papers of one candidate, among other concerns.
“These same concerns and recommendations would apply to the upcoming by-election if it were another long ballot situation,” the Elections Canada spokesperson told True North.