Latest news with #Szuchewycz
Ottawa Citizen
5 days ago
- Politics
- Ottawa Citizen
Winston: Time to reinstate election deposits in Canada
Once upon a time, in an era of greater rationality, candidates in federal elections in Canada had to put down a deposit of $1,000 as part of the nomination process or they would not be eligible to run. Article content The deposits were returned after the election, as long as candidates received a specified percentage of the total number of votes cast for the winner. Any candidates who did not meet the declared level of votes forfeited their deposits. Article content Article content Article content The stated purpose of the regulation was to cut down on frivolous candidates or parties with no realistic chance of winning a seat. Most countries around the world still require an election deposit, though details such as the precise amount and the proportion of votes required for it to be returned vary. Article content Not so in Canada, which stopped requiring deposits in federal elections eight years ago. Article content On Oct. 25, 2017, the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta (Szuchewycz v. Canada) ruled that the $1,000 deposit requirement for prospective candidates in federal elections infringed on the rights outlined in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (section 3). Article content The reference was to the provision that 'every citizen of Canada has the right to vote in an election of members of the House of Commons or of a legislative assembly and to be qualified for membership therein.' It also noted that the decision was binding 'until it is stayed by a court or overturned on appeal.' Article content The cancellation of the deposit requirement for prospective candidates was said to 'ensure greater accessibility to the election process.' Possibly that's true for some candidates, but surely not for voters. Article content Instead, it has made it easy and free for the Longest Ballot Committee (LBC) to develop its ridiculous and treacherous goal of delighting in hampering elections by throwing in multiple unqualified, non-serious candidates, usually nominated by the same electors. Article content This tactic was used in the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton in April's federal election, resulting in more than 90 candidates on the ballot. Article content While these joke candidates have no hope of winning and no intention of appearing in the riding for which they are nominated, they harm the election process and all serious candidates. Article content They also defy the goal of ensuring greater accessibility. A ballot that is a metre or two long is unmanageable, particularly for anyone who is visually impaired or physically handicapped.
Winnipeg Free Press
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Winnipeg Free Press
More than 100 candidates registered for Battle River-Crowfoot riding byelection
EDMONTON – More than 100 candidates are vying to win the Aug. 18 byelection in the rural Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot. Elections Canada's website shows that Tomas Szuchewycz with the Longest Ballot Committee is the agent behind 103 of the 108 registered candidates. Szuchewycz has said the committee has been registering candidates to protest Canada's electoral system. The committee has helped dozens of candidates register in multiple byelections in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba since 2022. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is among the candidates seeking a seat in the House of Commons for the Battle River-Crowfoot riding. Conservative Damien Kurek handily won the riding in the April general election but stepped down to allow Poilievre to run after the party leader lost his long-held Ottawa seat of Carleton. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025.
Hamilton Spectator
18-07-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
More than 100 candidates registered for Battle River-Crowfoot riding byelection
EDMONTON - More than 100 candidates are vying to win the Aug. 18 byelection in the rural Alberta riding of Battle River-Crowfoot. Elections Canada's website shows that Tomas Szuchewycz with the Longest Ballot Committee is the agent behind 103 of the 108 registered candidates. Szuchewycz has said the committee has been registering candidates to protest Canada's electoral system. The committee has helped dozens of candidates register in multiple byelections in Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba since 2022. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is among the candidates seeking a seat in the House of Commons for the Battle River-Crowfoot riding. Conservative Damien Kurek handily won the riding in the April general election but stepped down to allow Poilievre to run after the party leader lost his long-held Ottawa seat of Carleton. This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 18, 2025. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
Hamilton Spectator
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Hamilton Spectator
Callander resident joins Poilievre's by-election ballot protest
Although he lives in Callander, Dillon Anderson is running against Pierre Poilievre in the Aug. 18 federal by-election to represent Alberta's Battle River–Crowfoot riding. Anderson understands that an Ontarian running in Alberta is unconventional and even controversial, and that's the point. He's running to protest Canada's electoral system that allows any Canadian resident to run in any Canadian riding. He told BayToday, 'We have to change because somebody from Ontario shouldn't be able to run in an Alberta riding.' If the name is familiar, Anderson ran for Callander's Municipal Council in 2022 but did not earn a seat. See: Dillon Anderson is ready to run for Callander council His current candidacy is part of the Longest Ballot Committee, organized by Tomas Szuchewycz, who also serves as Anderson's Official Agent. At the time of writing, Elections Canada lists 29 candidates in Battle River-Crowfoot, many of whom list Szuchewycz as their agent. Anderson mentioned the committee expects to reach 126 candidates by the close of nominations on July 30, 2025. In a post on the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada's website, Szuchewycz emphasized that former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau broke his 2015 election promise to reform electoral practices, and the longest ballot aims to protest the current system which allows for parachute candidates to run in any riding they or their party choose. Szuchewycz noted in his statement, 'Some will call the longest ballot frivolous, inappropriate, or just ballot clutter. We must disagree. There is nothing inappropriate about having regular Canadians exercising their charter rights and engaging directly in politics.' Anderson agreed, emphasizing that what he and other Long Ballotters are doing is no different than what Poilievre is doing. 'I would argue that Mr. Poilievre is doing the same thing. He had a riding in Carleton that he represented for 20 years and abandoned, and the people effectively fired him and now he's replacing a respected MP, Damien Kurek.' 'I don't think that's right,' Anderson said. However, he added, 'If by the off-chance Poilievre is reading this today, I don't want him to think that it's an attack against him.' It's an attack against the entire electoral system, Anderson emphasized. Similar long ballot protests have occurred in Liberal strongholds as well, he noted. 'It's been used against other parties in the past. It's not just a conservative attack.' While Anderson exercises his right to run in a largely rural riding with a population hovering around 110,000, he has experienced backlash, especially on social media. Online he's been called a political terrorist, disgraceful, despicable, and has been told he reeks of liberal interference. For those thinking Anderson and his like are ruining democracy, Anderson said, 'It's in the constitution that we have democratic rights. If you want to do something about it write to the head of Elections Canada,' said Anderson, who is also a northern hockey scout with the Powassan Voodoos. 'More importantly, write to your MP so that we can get a private member's bill passed to stop this from happening,' Anderson said. 'I don't want to do this again, but I will if I have to.' Anderson mentioned he has a platform and even has a handful of people on the ground in the riding. He doesn't expect to win, but he wouldn't be surprised to receive 10 or 13 votes. If he does win, he will pack his bags and head to Battle River-Crowfoot to represent the people. However, he's sure it won't come to that, and he's proud to continue his protest regardless of results. 'It's sad that our democracy allows somebody from outside the region to parachute in, like Mr. Poilievre and myself.' David Briggs is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of BayToday, a publication of Village Media. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .
CBC
07-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Longest ballot protest targets Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre's riding
Social Sharing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre will be facing more opponents than ever in his eighth federal campaign, thanks to dozens of protest candidates running in his riding. Nearly 80 candidates registered to run in the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, where Poilievre has been the MP since 2004. Most of those candidates are linked to an electoral reform advocacy group called the Longest Ballot Committee. The group wants to put a citizens' assembly in charge of electoral reform and says political parties are too reluctant to make government more representative of the electorate. "Our point is that having politicians in charge of the election laws is a very straightforward conflict of interest, and they should hand that responsibility over to an independent, non-partisan body," said Tomas Szuchewycz, an organizer with the committee who acts as the protest candidates' official agent. CBC News asked the Conservative Party for comment on the number of candidates running in Poilievre's riding. The party didn't respond before publication. Szuchewycz said the group had also intended to sign up dozens of candidates in Liberal Leader Mark Carney's neighbouring Nepean riding. But he said the group didn't have enough time to organize because Carney only announced where he'd be seeking a seat the weekend he triggered an election. "We really wanted to do both leaders," he said. "Things just didn't add up in our favour for that … we're disappointed to have to drop it." The group has done similar protests in the past. They most notably overloaded the ballots in two byelections last year. In September, a total of 91 candidates ran in LaSalle-Émard-Verdun in Montreal, which broke the federal record with 91 candidates on the ballot. The previous record was last summer's byelection in Toronto-St. Paul's which had 84 contenders. Those ballots were nearly a metre long and resulted in a slow vote count. Final results in both contests were announced well after midnight. An Elections Canada spokesperson told CBC News that it anticipates another slow count on election night due to the number of candidates running in Carleton. "We cannot provide specific estimates for when results will be completed but can confirm that results will be available on election night," the spokesperson said in an email. They said Elections Canada has options — such as counting ballots from advance polls early or hiring more staff to help with the count — to avoid a lengthy delay. The head of Elections Canada has raised concerns about the protests when speaking to MP committees in the past. Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault said that not only do the mammoth-sized ballots lead to delayed results, they can also create difficulties for voters with disabilities. But Szuchewycz dismissed those concerns and argued that the current system is "confusing for voters" because it can create results where the number of seats aren't reflective of a party's overall support. "It completely misrepresents what people actually want out of their government. So I don't think we're adding that much confusion," he said. Szuchewycz said his group is attempting to register 86 candidates in Carleton. The Elections Canada deadline was Monday afternoon, but the ballots won't be finalized until Wednesday. If successful, that would mean a total of 93 candidates would be running — setting a new record. Perrault has proposed changes to nomination rules to curtail longest ballot protests. But the group has said those proposals wouldn't deter them. "We take things one day at a time," Szuchewycz said of the group's intentions. He suggested after organizing three protests in the past year that the group may limit its activities going forward.
