A petition backed by a rookie Conservative politician wants Ottawa to thwart “co-ordinated mass candidacies designed to disrupt the voting process” — and is nodding to Conservative Party of Canada (CPC) Leader Pierre Poilievre’s former riding of Carleton as an example.
CPC MP Ned Kuruc is sponsoring a parliamentary petition pushing to stiffen penalties under the Canada Elections Act by creating a new offence for those who are “knowingly making a false declaration.”
The petition was initiated by Hamilton resident Ryan Davies and his wife Tanya. Kuruc represents the riding of Hamilton East—Stoney Creek.
The petition argues that election rules allow an “unlimited” number of candidates to run in a given riding, meaning people can put their name forward without showing a “genuine intent to serve if elected.” That’s a disruptive process that played out in a couple of byelections last year and, most recently, in Poilievre’s former Carleton riding during the April election, it added.
The petition adds that long ballots can pose accessibility barriers for voters with disabilities, an issue that chief electoral Stéphane Perrault also flagged last year.
It urges the federal government to table and fast-track a bill to tweak the act to require each candidate's nomination include 100 “unique” signatures from electors in the riding, or 50 such signatures in designated constituencies. The figures are in line with the current rules, though the petition also pushes to add a "candidate declaration of intent” confirming that the person will serve as an MP if they are successful and that they plan to “actively” campaign for the seat.
If the individual does not meet those criteria, the petition says they should be punished with a fine of up to $2,000.
The petition opened last month and will close for signatures on July 12. As of Wednesday afternoon, over 28,000 people have signed it.
Kuruc declined to comment on the petition when reached by Parliament Today.
While the petition does not explicitly name the Longest Ballot Committee, it references the efforts of the group pushing for electoral reform that first made waves by crowding ballots with protest candidates in 2021. The committee most recently targeted the riding of Carleton, where rookie Liberal MP Bruce Fanjoy secured the seat over Poilievre, and is promising to haunt the party captain as he looks to regain entry into the chamber in next month’s byelection.
In a statement to Parliament Today, the committee’s Tomas Szuchewycz confirmed that over 200 people have signed up to join a long ballot in Battle River—Crowfoot. He said it’s proof that the group’s protest movement is spreading “like wildfire across the country.”
His comments came the same week Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the byelection will take place for this safe Conservative Alberta seat on Aug. 18. Poilievre is expected to win the post, which was defended in April by Damien Kurek. Kurek has since resigned.
How much Poilievre’s efforts in Alberta will be hampered by the Longest Ballot Committee remains an open question, though.
Poilievre failed to defend his Carleton seat against Fanjoy by a five per cent margin, amounting to a differential of over 4,500 votes. While the committee represented 85 candidates out of 91 in that riding, the greatest number of votes any of its candidates secured was 57.
Correction: This story has been updated to include the name of the individuals who initiated the petition and to reflect the accessibility concerns related to long ballots.
