Longest Ballot Committee Plans to Target Alberta Riding Sought by Poilievre

Voters arrive to cast their ballots in the federal byelection for the riding of Lasalle-Emard-Verdun in Montreal on Sept. 16, 2024. The Canadian PressT/Christinne Muschi

The Longest Ballot Committee (LBC) has announced plans to field 200 candidates in the upcoming byelection in the Alberta riding where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre seeks to secure a seat.

The LBC laid out the plan in an email sent to supporters, saying the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot “needs 200 candidates” and the group will “do our best to make a long ballot happen.” The group also called for those living in or near the riding to help collect nomination signatures for the candidates because each person needs 100 local voters’ signatures to be nominated.

The move mirrors the group’s targeting of the Ottawa-area Carleton riding that Poilievre lost in the April 28 election to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy. Fanjoy received 50.8 percent of the vote in the riding, while Poilievre received 45.8 percent, coming in second for the first time since he was first elected in 2004.

Poilievre announced last week that he will run in a byelection in Battle River-Crowfoot to regain a seat in the House of Commons. Conservative MP Damien Kurek, who has held the riding since 2019 and won re-election by more than 46,000 votes, offered to step aside to allow Poilievre to run.

The LBC, which was created to protest Canada’s first-past-the-post system, recently fielded 91 candidates in Carleton. The ballots were nearly a metre long and had to be folded multiple times to fit into voting boxes.

The longest ballot movement is linked to the satirical Rhinoceros Party of Canada, which was founded in 1963 and has policies such as making “Sorry” the new official motto of Canada, and a pledge to open “tax havens” in all provinces. The independent and Rhinocerous Party-aligned candidates received 817 votes on April 28 while Fanjoy’s margin of victory over Poilievre was 4,315 votes.

LBC associate Donovan Eckstrom, who was one of the Carleton candidates, said in January the ballot campaign would target both Poilievre’s Carleton riding and University-Rosedale, the seat held by Liberal MP and former Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland. However, their plan to have dozens of candidates run in Freeland’s riding was dropped.

The LBC also ran 77 candidates in the Toronto-St. Paul’s byelection in June 2024, resulting in voting delays.

Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault told the House of Commons in November 2024 he had concerns about the protest movement making it more difficult for Canadians with language or accessibility barriers to vote.

Poilievre visited the Battle River-Crowfoot riding recently, posting on social media on May 5 that he had visited Kurek’s farm.

“It will be an honour to work for their support to return to Parliament, hold the government to account and champion common sense values for Canada,” the Tory leader said in a social media post.

Prime Minister Mark Carney said during a May 2 press conference he would “trigger” a byelection as soon as possible to allow Poilievre to run in Battle River-Crowfoot and regain his seat. It is the prime minister who chooses when byelections are held.