Here’s why there are 91 candidates in the same riding as Pierre Poilievre

A man enters an advance polling station in Ottawa, Friday, Sept. 10, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

By Natasha O'Neill

Posted Apr 8, 2025 01:29:51 PM.

Last Updated Apr 8, 2025 05:04:25 PM.

Voters in the Ottawa riding of Carleton should expect a very long ballot on April 28, with the majority of candidates running as independent.

A day before Elections Canada is set to post the final list, there are 91 people signed up to compete in the riding that current Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has held since 2015.

The reason for the uncommon length of candidates has to do with a group advocating for electoral reform.

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

The latest on the election:

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.

There are a number of steps needed for someone to become an official candidate in a Canadian election, including appointing an official agent — such as Szuchewycz is for the 86 mostly independent candidates — complete a nomination package, which includes a minimum of 100 signatures of electors that live in the riding.

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

Ballot counting could be delayed in Carleton riding

This is not the first election race to be targeted by the organization. In a 2024 Montreal byelection, the group made it the longest ballot in the history of Canadian federal elections with 91 candidates.

Earlier that year, the results of a byelection held in Toronto—St. Paul’s were delayed for hours after 84 candidates signed up to run, including 77 linked to the Longest Ballot Committee. 

Elections Canada printed ballots that were nearly a metre long, with two columns of names. The agency said at the time that compared with usual elections, the enormous ballots took longer to unfold and tally, and more ballot boxes were required to hold them. 

In the end, the final count wasn’t released until after 4 a.m. the following morning.

The goal for the organization is for the government to give up the decisions when it comes to elections.

Szuchewycz said he wants “Politicians (to) admit it’s a conflict of interest for them to make decisions on election law, since they can’t help but think of how any changes might impact their own careers.”

With files from Maura Forrest, The Canadian Press.

The total list of candidates running

Candidate nameStatusParty affiliationName of official agent
Pierre Poilievre (incumbent)ConfirmedConservative Party of CanadaRoger Graves
Bruce FanjoyConfirmedLiberal Party of CanadaEric Hallam
Beth ProkaskaConfirmedNew Democratic PartyJames McLaren
Mark WatsonConfirmedGreen Party of CanadaDana Peters
Karen BourdeauConfirmedUnited Party of Canada (UP)Gisele Baribeau
Shawn MacEachernConfirmedCanadian Future PartyKenneth MacDougall
Sébastien CoRhinoConfirmedParti Rhinocéros PartyTomas Szuchewycz
Danny LégaréConfirmedMarijuana PartyTomas Szuchewycz
Sana AhmadConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Mélodie AndersonConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Marthalee AykroydConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Alex BanksConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Tetia BayoroConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Sophie BeardenConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Michael BednarskiConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Line BélangerConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Jeani BoudreaultConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Alain BourgaultConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
John BoylanConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Sarah BurkeConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Dante Camarena JimenezConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Jenny CartwrightConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Jaël Champagne GareauConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
David CherniakConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Charlie CurrieConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
John DaleConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Manon Marie Lili DesbiensConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Gerrit DoggerConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Ysack DupontConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Alexandra EngeringConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Scott FalkinghamConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Euan Fraser TaitConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Maria GabrielConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Daniel GagnonConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Pierre GauthierConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Gregory GillisConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Jeffrey GoodmanConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Peter GormanConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Daniel GrahamConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Artem GudkovConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Zornitsa HalachevaConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Anthony HamelConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Blake HamiltonConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Robert HarrisConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Loren HicksConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Kerri HildebrandtConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Andrea HollingerConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Trevor HolsworthConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Seyed Hosseini LavasaniConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Ryan HuardConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Demetrios KaravasConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Laina KohlerConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Kevin KrisaConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Krzysztof KrzywinskiConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Dan KyungConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Samuel LafontaineConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Alain LamontagneConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Alexander LeinConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Charles LemieuxConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Connie LukawskiConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Agnieszka MarszalekConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Joseph MawConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Donald McKayConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Mark MoutterConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Christopher Navarro-CansecoConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Winston NeutelConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
David NguyenConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Sheri ObermanConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
John Francis O’FlynnConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Lény PainchaudConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Lanna PalssonConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Guillaume ParadisConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Lajos PolyaConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Lorant PolyaConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Spencer RocchiConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Wallace Richard RowatConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Julian SelodyConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Hakim SheriffConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Roger SherwoodConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Yogo ShimadaConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Michael SkirzynskiConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Julie St-AmandConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Pascal St-AmandConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Patrick StrzalkowskiConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Daniel StucklessConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Benjamin TeichmanConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Sarah ThompsonConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Darcy VanderwaterConfirmedNo AffiliationTomas Szuchewycz
Elliot WandConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
Michal WieczorekConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz
David ZhuConfirmedIndependentTomas Szuchewycz

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