WC has 91 options in Carleton Riding candidates

WEST CARLETON – West Carleton residents voting in the Carleton Riding in the upcoming (April 28) federal election better start doing their homework – as of the deadline to file (April 7) there are 91 candidates running to be your member of parliament.

For this upcoming election, and any federal election in at least the next 10 years, West Carleton has been divided in to two ridings. Residents west of Berry’s Side Road, down Murphy Side Road, Thomas A. Dolan Parkway to Highway 417 are now in the Carleton Riding. Those east of those boudaries will vote in the newly created Kanata Riding (see map).

If you are in the Carleton Riding, sharpen your voting pencil, and maybe bring your reading glasses to the ballot box as print on voting ballots might be a bit small, because as of Monday (April 7) afternoon, there are 91 registered candidates running for the seat in Carleton. Eighty-six of the candidates have the same registered agent, Tomas Szuchewycz, and link to the Bluesky account Longest Ballot Committee. No, West Carleton Online will not be profiling all the candidates.

The Longest Ballot Committee protests Canada’s first-past-the-post system. On its Bluesky account, the group says it is “having fun breaking records while pointing out that politicians shouldn’t be in charge of their own ethics and election rules.”

“We do long ballots because politicians should not be in charge of election rules; there is an obvious conflict of interest,” Szuchewycz, one of three leaders of the Longest Ballot Committee, released in a statement. “After all, what (prime minister) would change a system which brought them to power?”

The goal of the group that formed in 2015 is to bring the conversation of reform more attention by making the ballots extremely long.

Justin Trudeau campaigned in 2015 on a promise that it would be the last federal election under the first-past-the-post system, but then broke that vow in 2017. 

“It would benefit voters if politicians recused themselves and passed decisions about election rules to a permanent, independent, and non-partisan body such as a citizens’ assembly,” Szuchewycz said.

Conservative Party leader and current Carleton MP, Pierre Poilievre, has represented the riding of Carleton since 2004 and is seeking an eighth term. The Liberal Party candidate is Bruce Fanjoy, the NDP candidate is Beth Prokaska and the Green Party candidate is Mark Watson.

Elections Canada says, “due to the unusual circumstances created by the number of candidates on the ballot in Carleton,” results from the electoral district may be delayed on Election Day (April 28).

“To help ensure the results for Carleton are available as soon as possible, the chief electoral officer may use his authority under the Canada Elections Act to allow the counting of advance poll votes to begin earlier on Election Day,” Elections Canada released in a statement. “Elections Canada may also look at other measures to help speed up the count, including bringing on extra teams to help with the count, and conducting additional training sessions to help familiarize workers with the larger ballot.”

There were five candidates on the ballot in the riding of Carleton in the 2021 federal election.

According to the Elections Canada website, a candidate must collect the names, addresses and signatures of at least 100 people who consent to the individual’s candidacy. The people must be qualified electors and live in the electoral district where the candidate intends to run.

Szuchewycz said Elections Canada has verified each of the candidates he has signed.

The 91 candidates in Carleton ties the record for longest ballot in Canadian history with the 91 candidates in the Sept. 16 federal byelection in LaSalle-Émard-Verd, with 79 linked to the Longest Ballot Committee. A byelection last June in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul Riding had 84 candidates.

 In November, chief electoral officer Stéphane Perrault raised concerns about ballot accessibility linked to the Longest Ballot Committee movement. Perrault recommended changes to ensure voters can only sign one nomination paper.

“We have now reached the point where any further increase to the number of candidates will require me to reduce the font size on the ballot, further compounding accessibility challenge,” Perrault told the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs at the time. “Marking and counting modified ballots takes longer and is more complex for voters and election workers. While I support the proposal in the bill to reduce the number of signatures required for nominations from 100 to 75, it is important to ensure the requirement for supporting signatures is not turned on its head. 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 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.”

According to the Longest Ballot Committee, it ended its attempt for a long ballot in Nepean Riding.

In January, the Longest Ballot Committee also said it was targeting Liberal Party incumbent Chrystia Freeland’s Toronto riding of University-Rosedale. There are currently six candidates registered to run in the riding.

Monday, April 7 is the deadline for candidates to register to run in the federal election.

Here is the list of candidates running in Carleton:

• Conservative Party: Pierre Poilievre (incumbent)
• Liberal Party: Bruce Fanjoy
• New Democratic Party: Beth Prokaska
• Green Party: Mark Watson
• Independent: Sana Ahmad
• Independent: Alex Banks
• Independent: Tetia Bayoro
• Independent: Michael Bednarski
• Independent: Line Bélanger
• No Affiliation: Jeani Boudreault
• United Party of Canada: Karen Bourdeau
• Independent: Alain Bourgault
• Independent: John Boylan
• Independent: Sarah Burke
• Independent: Dante Camarena Jimenez
• Independent: Jenny Cartwright
• Independent: Jaël Champagne Gareau
• Independent: David Cherniak
• Rhinocéros Party: Sebastien CoRhino
• Independent: John Dale
• No Affiliation: Manon Marie Lili Desbiens
• Independent : Gerrit Dogger
• No Affiliation: Ysack Dupont
• Independent: Alexandra Engering
• Independent: Scott Falkingham
• Independent: Euan Fraser Tait
• Independent: Maria Gabriel
• Independent: Pierre Gauthier
• Independent: Gregory Gillis
• Independent: Jeffrey Goodman
• Independent: Daniel Graham
• Independent: Artem Gudkov
• Independent: Zornitsa Halacheva
• Independent: Anthony Hamel
• Independent: Blake Hamilton
• Independent: Robert Harris
• Independent: Loren Hicks
• No Affiliation: Kerri Hildebrandt
• Independent: Andrea Hollinger
• Indenpdent: Trevor Holsworth
• Independent: Ryan Huard
• Independent: Demetrios Karavas
• Independent: Kevin Krisa
• Independent: Dan Kyung
• Independent: Samuel Lafontaine
• Independent: Alain Lamontagne
• Marijuana Party: Danny Légaré
• No Affiliation: Alexander Lein
• Independent: Charles Lemieux
• Independent: Connie Lukawski
• Canadian Future Party: Shawn MacEachern
• Independent: Agnieszka Marszalek
• Independent: Joseph Maw
• Independent: Donald McKay
• Independent: Mark Moutter
• Independent: Christopher Navarro-Canseco
• Independent: Winston Neutel
• Independent: David Nguyen
• Independent: Sheri Oberman
• Independent: John Francis O’Flynn
• Independent: Lény Painchaud
• Independent: Guillaume Paradis
• Independent: Lanna Palsson
• Independent: Lajos Polya
• Independent: Lorant Polya
• Independent: Spencer Rocchi
• Independent: Wallace Richard Rowat
• Independent: Julian Selody
• Independent: Hakim Sheriff
• Independent: Roger Sherwood
• Independent: Yogo Shimada
• Independent: Pascal St-Amand
• Independent: Patrick Strzalkowski
• Independent: Daniel Stuckless
• Independent: Benjamin Teichman
• Independent: Sarah Thompson
• Independent: Elliot Wand
• Independent: Michal Wieczorek
• Independent: David Zhu