B.C. court gives parliament 10-month deadline to make Indian Act comply with Charter
The court ruled that provisions of the act that denied status to people with a 'family history of enfranchisement,' where their parents or grandparents gave up their status and the benefits it entails, infringed upon the plaintiffs' Charter rights.
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Was Battle River-Crowfoot the last hurrah for the long ballot protest?
In attempting to give Monday's federal byelection in Alberta the longest ballot in Canadian history, a group of electoral reform advocates may have instead created the shortest one — and with further policy changes possibly on the horizon, the future of such protests is unclear. Elections Canada issued special write-in ballots — where voters simply fill in the name of their preferred candidate — after the group known as the Longest Ballot Committee organized over 200 candidates to run against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in Battle River-Crowfoot. Combined, the candidates affiliated with the group received just over 300 votes — 0.6 per cent of the ballots cast. More than 70 long-ballot candidates received no vote at all. Despite the name of his group, organizer Tomas Szuchewycz doesn't seem bothered that no long ballot was printed, or that his candidates earned only a fraction of the votes. Overall it's been a really fantastic experience, he told CBC News. Enlarge image (new window) An example of a ballot that included the names of 91 candidates. Photo: La Presse canadienne / Justin Tang The Longest Ballot Committee has organized dozens of candidates to run in byelections over the past five years, forcing Elections Canada to adapt its rules to accommodate dozens of names on a single ballot. Prior to Battle River-Crowfoot, the largest number of candidates the group had gotten on a ballot was 91, resulting in a metre-long document that caused counting delays and irritated some voters. By using a write-in ballot, Szuchewycz said Canada's elections body found a great solution in the face of his group's efforts. Enlarge image (new window) A sign reminds people how to spell Pierre Poilievre's name on the ballot for the Battle River-Crowfoot byelection in Camrose on Monday. Photo: The Canadian Press / Jason Franson Elections Canada showed that the ballot hysteria is a non-issue. There are other ways to solve the problem of large ballots than to try to prevent people from exercising their Charter rights, he said. [For us] it's about getting the message out that our election rules need to be passed to an independent, non-partisan body. The Longest Ballot Committee wants a citizens' assembly in charge of electoral reform, and says political parties are too reluctant to make government more representative of the electorate. Politicians looking to change election rules The group's efforts have certainly caught the attention of politicians who are willing to make changes to Canada's electoral system — but only to make it harder to organize long ballot protests. Poilievre — who has twice run in a riding where the long-ballot candidates have organized, including his victory in Battle River-Crowfoot on Monday — is pushing for the government to bring in legislation that would prevent Szuchewycz and his group from running dozens of candidates in any one riding. We have to take action because this is a scam. It is unfair, it is unjust and it must stop, Poilievre said on the campaign trail earlier this summer. One of the suggestions Poilievre made is to change the rules around the number of signatures a candidate is required to gather to run — from the current 100 to 0.5 per cent of a riding's population. Enlarge image (new window) Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre looks on as his swife Anaida Poilievre casts her vote in the federal election on April 28 in Ottawa. The Carleton riding featured a long ballot of 91 candidates. Photo: (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press) The Liberals say they are open to some changes. House leader Steve MacKinnon's office has said the government shares the concerns about the longest ballot initiative and is examining the issue. Jayson Cowan, a Battle River-Crowfoot candidate affiliated with the Longest Ballot Committee, said making it harder for candidates to gather signatures could prevent people like him from getting on the ballot. Although the long ballot initiative has been framed as a protest, Cowan said that wasn't the case for him. He argues there aren't enough politicians who are Indigenous or from the disabled community. A member of the Métis Nation of Alberta, Cowan previously tried to run as an Independent, but he struggled to gather enough signatures, in part due to mobility issues. He credits the Longest Ballot Committee for helping get his name on the ballot for the first time. I don't know that I would have had that experience any other way, he said. Both Cowan and Szuchewycz cautioned that raising the bar regarding the number of signatures might also force smaller parties out of the picture. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault, the head of Elections Canada, offered his own suggestions on how to prevent long ballots (new window) in front of a House committee last fall. The long ballot group is able to put forward so many candidates by having electors sign multiple candidates' nomination forms. Perrault argued that rather than raising the number of signatures a candidate is required to gather, certain penalties should be imposed on individuals who sign — or encourage others to sign — multiple nomination papers. He didn't say what he thinks those penalties should be. Enlarge image (new window) Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault holds up a sample ballot from a byelection that featured 91 candidates during a meeting of a House of Commons committee on Nov. 21, 2024. Photo: Parliament of Canada Despite indications of rule changes on the horizon, Szuchewycz said the group is garnering more interest from people seeking to run. We've been able to put out our message that politicians shouldn't be in charge of their own election rules because it's obviously a conflict of interest, and that message is really resonating with people, he said. Even though the committee has been able to recruit more candidates, it hasn't necessarily translated into success on the ballot. Last year in a Toronto byelection, long-ballot candidate Félix-Antoine Hamel achieved a first in Canadian electoral history (new window) by receiving zero votes in a contested riding. While Hamel's result was a novelty just a year ago, dozens more long-ballot candidates have laid a goose egg since — including 75 in Battle River-Crowfoot (although results there still need to be finalized). Brian Wishart, one of the long-ballot candidates who received no votes, said he isn't fixated on the result. For me, it's about bringing attention to some of the flaws in our election system, he told CBC News. Enlarge image (new window) A mock ranked ballot shown here was used to educate voters ahead of the 2018 municipal election in London, Ont. Photo: Radio-Canada / Hala Ghonaim A resident of London, Ont., Wishart voted using a ranked ballot in the city's 2018 mayoral election (new window) , but was dismayed when the Ontario government later scrapped the initiative (new window) . It was absolutely fantastic. It's the best I've ever felt about voting in my life, he said. Cowan, who doesn't live in Battle River-Crowfoot and was unable to vote for himself, received just one vote on Monday. I want to believe that I got through to somebody … [for] somebody who's disabled, who can't get around [to] get through to people, I think that's fantastic, Cowan said, adding that he would run again if the opportunity presents itself. I really do think that it's an experience that everybody should have…. I want regular people giving it a shot. That would be amazing. Szuchewycz said the Long Ballot Committee intends to keep going in some capacity, but how will depend on what rule changes are pushed through Parliament. We'll have to see what exactly the legislation is that they pass. Maybe it becomes impossible to do this, maybe it's just slightly harder, or maybe it's even easier. Who knows? he said. We'll just have to wait and see. Darren Major (new window) · CBC News · Senior writer Darren Major is a senior writer for CBC's parliamentary bureau in Ottawa. He previously worked as a digital reporter for CBC Ottawa and a producer for CBC's Power & Politics. He holds a master's degree in journalism and a bachelor's degree in public affairs and policy management, both from Carleton University. He also holds master's degree in arts from Queen's University. He can be reached at
CTV News
an hour ago
- CTV News
Half of Canadians would be ‘ashamed' to call Poilievre PM, as Tory leader wins back seat in Parliament: Angus Reid
Despite a decisive byelection victory on Monday, winning him back a seat in the House of Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is coming up short in winning over Canadians nationwide. According to new numbers from the Angus Reid Institute, while 73 per cent of Canadians view Poilievre as a 'strong critic of the government' in his official opposition role, 50 per cent say they would be 'ashamed' to call him prime minister. ADVERTISEMENT Fifty-two per cent of survey respondents also said they believe him to be insincere. According to the polling firm, both those latter figures have increased since December 2023, which was a little more than a year after Poilievre became leader of the party. The percentage of people who said they would be 'ashamed' to call Poilievre prime minister is up 10 percentage points since late 2023. Poilievre has been Conservative leader since September 2022, when he won the leadership with a resounding first-ballot victory. That leadership is up for a mandatory review vote at the end of next January. During the April general election, Poilievre lost his longtime Ottawa-area riding to a Liberal political rookie. But, while Poilievre himself lost his seat, the party picked up two dozen ridings nationwide. In the rural Alberta riding of Battle River—Crowfoot, former Conservative MP Damien Kurek stepped down to give Poilievre the chance to run to replace him. On Monday, Poilievre did just that, winning back a seat in the House of Commons during a byelection with more than 80 per cent of the vote, just shy of the nearly 83 per cent Kurek garnered in the April election. When it comes to Conservative voters, the numbers from Angus Reid show 68 per cent still support Poilievre. But, of the people who were considering voting Conservative in April and ended up deciding against it on election day, 54 per cent want to see Poilievre lose the January leadership review and be replaced. Of that same group — those who considered voting Conservative but made the last-minute decision not to — 59 per cent said Poilievre sounded too much like U.S. President Donald Trump, 59 per cent said the campaign was too negative, and 70 per cent said the party 'didn't articulate a clear plan for the country.' Conservative voters, meanwhile, don't appear to blame Poilievre for the election loss. According to Angus Reid, 39 per cent said Trump was the most to blame for the defeat, followed by Prime Minister Mark Carney at 22 per cent. Only 14 per cent of Conservative voters consider Poilievre to be the most responsible for the defeat. Poilievre trails Carney: Nanos New numbers from Nanos Research also show a similar drop in support for Poilievre. According to new data from this week, the Liberals are 12 points ahead of the Conservatives, at 44 per cent and 32 per cent respectively. But, Poilievre is trailing Carney by 27 points when it comes to the preferred prime minister question. Those numbers are a sharp contrast to the start of the year when the Conservatives led the Liberals — under former prime minister Justin Trudeau — by more than 20 points. Nanos said Poilievre will have to move quickly to close the gap between his party and the Liberals, and critically, between himself and Carney, with January's leadership review as a possible target date to see improvement in national polling. With files from CTV News' Stephanie Ha
Toronto Star
2 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Fact File: Most older immigrants don't get OAS upon arrival, contrary to online claim
By The Canadian Press Attacks on immigrants to Canada continue to proliferate online, with the latest volley coming from a false claim that immigrants aged 65 and up receive a partial old age security (OAS) pension immediately upon arrival in Canada — and that it comes from the pension of citizens. In fact, while there are some exceptions, in order to qualify for OAS the recipient must be a Canadian citizen or legal resident who lived in Canada for at least 10 years.
