'This is a scam': Poilievre wants rules changed to stop long ballot protests

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says he wants Canada's election laws changed to prevent long ballot protests as he is set to face another one next month.

"We have to take action because this is a scam. It is unfair, it is unjust and it must stop," Poilievre said of the long ballot protests that have occurred in recent years — including in Poilievre's riding this past election.

The Conservative leader's comments came during a town hall in Stettler, Alta., last week. Stettler is a community in the riding of Battle River-Crowfoot where Poilievre is running to regain a seat in the House of Commons.

Clips of the event were posted online by a local news outlet, Hometown Media.

An electoral reform advocacy group — known as the Longest Ballot Committee — has been organizing dozens of candidates to run in byelections in recent years, resulting in metre-long ballots that have caused delays in vote counting and confounded some voters.

The group wants to put a citizens' assembly in charge of electoral reform and says political parties are too reluctant to make government more representative of the electorate.

After targeting Poilievre's former riding of Carleton, the group is now aiming to sign up 200 candidates in Battle River-Crowfoot — more than double the 91 that ran in Carleton in April.

Poilievre said there were a number of changes that could prevent such protests from occurring. But he specifically suggested requiring 1,000 signatures to run, and ensuring that voters can only sign one nomination form.

"That would make it impossible for 200 people to go out and have their names piled onto the [candidate] list," Poilievre told the crowd in Stettler last week.

"There are a number of other things that you could do that would make it so that only real candidates who are truly running to put their name forward in our democracy are on that list."

WATCH | Longest ballot candidate speaks about Carleton protest:

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is one of 91 candidates registered in the suburban Ottawa riding of Carleton. It's tied for the record of having the most candidates on the ballot with the 2024 byelection in the Montreal riding of LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. The majority of the candidates are connected to an electoral reform advocacy group called the Longest Ballot Committee. Mark Moutter, an independent candidate in the riding who is part of that initiative, joins Power & Politics to discuss why he’s put his name on this large ballot.

Candidates need 100 signatures from voters in their riding to secure a nomination and electors are not prevented from signing multiple forms.

The Longest Ballot Committee rebuked Poilievre's suggestions, saying such a large increase in required signatures would have a "negative impact on Canadian democracy."

"This ill-conceived and self-serving electoral reform proposal by [Poilievre] is downright dangerous, and reinforces our conviction that politicians are not well suited to decide the rules of their own elections," the group said in a statement.

It said it would continue to use long ballots as a form of protest as "long as we are legally permitted to do so."

Poilievre is not the only one interested in curbing long ballot protests.

MPs were studying legislation last session that would have actually lowered the signature threshold to 75. That bill died when the House was prorogued in January.

But Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault appeared at a House committee last fall to offer his suggestions.

While he said he's in favour of lowering the threshold, Perrault argued that "certain penalties" should be imposed on individuals who sign — or encourage others to sign — multiple nomination papers in an effort to get as many candidates on a ballot as possible. He didn't say what those penalties should be.

The Longest Ballot Committee has already registered dozens of candidates in Battle River-Crowfoot, and drawn the ire of other candidates besides Poilievre.

Bonnie Critchley is running as an Independent and pitching herself as an alternative to the Conservative leader, who she argues pushed out the local MP — Damien Kurek — so he could seek a seat after losing his own.

But the Beaver County local says the protest is making things difficult for her as an Independent who is actually interested in representing the constituents of Battle River-Crowfoot.

WATCH | Independent candidate on Alberta byelection:

Power & Politics speaks to Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley, who's running against Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the upcoming Alberta byelection. Critchley says if Poilievre does win, 'it won't be by much,' and warns some residents feel 'used' by his attempt to regain a seat in the House of Commons.

In an open letter to the Longest Ballot Committee posted on her campaign website, Critchley said there is a "backlash" in the riding from voters who are worried that she is a "fake out" candidate.

"I don't have a massive team, I don't have backing from millions of people. I have to go door to door within my community and explain to my neighbours that I have nothing to do with you," she wrote.

"I have to explain that I am here, in my home, and I am standing up for myself, my neighbours and my community against the guy from Ottawa who doesn't give a damn about us. Please do not bury me with your 'legal' election interference."

The deadline to register as a candidate in the byelection is July 28. Voting day in Battle River-Crowfoot is Aug. 18.