More than 200 candidates running in riding where Poilievre hopes to win seat, as Elections Canada announces adapted ballot

Pierre Poilievre says the list of over 200 candidates flooding the byelection ballot he is running in is an abuse of democracy. Kathy Le has more.

The number of candidates running in an August byelection the Conservative Party of Canada hopes will restore its leader’s position in the House of Commons has surpassed 200.

To manage the record-breaking number, Elections Canada announced Monday that next month’s byelection will have an adapted ballot, similar to a special ballot, allowing voters to write the name of the person they’re voting for.

Elections Canada has listed 209 confirmed candidates in the rural Alberta riding of Battle River—Crowfoot as of Monday morning, only seven of which have political party affiliations. Monday is the close of nominations for the Aug. 18 byelection, and a complete list of candidates will be available Wednesday, the elections agency said.

“This adapted ballot will replace the typical list-style ballot, on which electors mark a blank circle next to the name of their candidate of choice,” the Elections Canada website states. “The adapted ballot will retain the safeguards of a typical ballot.”

Elections Canada also stated a list of all the candidates will still be provided to voters.

The vast majority of candidates who’ve signed up to run are listed as independents.

The riding has been targeted by the electoral reform advocacy group The Longest Ballot Committee, which has also participated in several previous high-stakes byelections. It also ran a campaign in Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s former riding during the April general election, where the ballot racked up 91 candidates.

Conservative candidates have held the federal riding in Battle River—Crowfoot since 2004, including Damien Kurek, who won the April general election with 83 per cent of the vote.

The farmer-by-trade had held the seat since 2019 but resigned in the weeks after the election — and on the first day he was allowed to do so, according to parliamentary procedure — so Poilievre could run to replace him.

Poilievre lost the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton, which he’d held for more than 20 years, to Liberal political rookie Bruce Fanjoy. While he’s still Conservative leader, losing his seat in the House of Commons means Poilievre has been unable to participate in Parliament.

In an interview with CTV Power Play with Vassy Kapelos, Kurek said his decision to resign was a way to “practically serve” his riding and the country.

Poilievre called on the government last week to pass legislation to prevent actions like those taken by The Longest Ballot Committee, calling the stunt “a deliberate attempt to manipulate the rules,” and “a blatant abuse” of the electoral system in an open letter to House leader Steven MacKinnon.

Some independent candidates, meanwhile, told CTV News they signed up out of frustration with Kurek’s resignation, saying they’d elected the candidate and not necessarily the party at large.

Party leaders in Canada are expected to have a seat in the House or seek one “as soon as possible,” according to the House of Commons Procedure and Practice. But just how “soon” has varied in the past.

With files from CTV News’ Colton Praill, Lynn Chaya and Spencer Van Dyk, and CTV News Edmonton’s Angela Amato