Jackson starts petition to end nuisance ballots

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This article was published 10/06/2025 (244 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Brandon-Souris MP Grant Jackson has started a petition aimed at stopping nuisance election ballots.

“We’re trying to make sure that our elections are taken seriously,” said Jackson, who launched the petition on Monday. “You want to make sure that candidates aren’t just throwing their name on the ballot.”

The petition is intended to stop what happened in federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s Carleton riding, which had 91 candidates in the April election.

Jackson said when he spoke to people at election offices in Brandon-Souris, he heard a lot of people were upset that the Conservative leader’s seat was being targeted.

“Just the confusion and frustration that caused for voters who were just trying to exercise their democratic right and responsibility to vote,” said Jackson. “I thought it was important to address the issue and present a potential solution.”

“This is the exploitation of a loophole in the legislation as it currently exists, and so my hope is that it results in some action to correct this.”

The petition calls for two changes in the rules for people to put their name on the ballot. The first is that multiple candidates can’t all have the same official agent. The second is that everyone who runs in a riding has to pay $500, which would be refunded if they receive more than 0.1 per cent of the riding’s vote.

Jackson said many of the 83 independent and unaffiliated candidates who ran in Carleton shared official agents. He said if people each had to find one other person to agree with them, it might be harder to get so many people on the ballot.

“That’s where we’re seeing that this loophole is being abused a little bit, and we feel that a candidate should be able to convince one other person to be their official agent,” said Jackson. “We don’t think that that’s an unreasonable bar to set for those seeking elected office in this country.”

The $500 refund for people who get 0.1 per cent of the vote, he said, is another step in making it more difficult for people to run, as it would hurt their wallet if they didn’t get enough votes. None of the 83 independent or unaffiliated candidates reached that benchmark. Other candidates in the Carleton riding, who ran under Canadian Future, Marijuana and Rhinoceros party banners, also didn’t reach the 0.1 per cent threshold.

Jackson said he doesn’t think the refund would discourage people from running who are serious about putting their name forward as a legitimate candidate.

“Over the course of the country, if you look at how many candidates have run, and how many have gotten less than 0.1% of the vote, it would be very rare,” said Jackson. “Except in cases where there’s 90 candidates on the ballot.”

He said the added work for the refunds to be given out would also not be a large burden on Elections Canada.

“I think in the grand scheme of running a general election from coast to coast to coast in Canada, this would be a relatively small administrative burden relative to the gain for Elections Canada officials,” he said, comparing it to how much extra work went into counting the nearly metre-long ballots in Carleton.

Jackson said once people have signed the petition, he will read it in the House of Commons to hopefully enact change in the system, which would need support from the Liberal government. The House of Commons’ website says the petition will close Oct. 7, although Jackson says it could be ended sooner depending on when timing would be better to read it in the House.

Tomas Szuchewycz of the Longest Ballot Committee, which was the organization that claimed the dozens of extra candidates in Carleton and other ridings in previous elections, said the group is pleased that people see the flaw in the system.

“We’re always happy to see citizens speak up about the shortcomings of our electoral system. There are many!” wrote Szuchewycz in an email to the Sun. “The Elections Act desperately needs updating, and the job of updating our democracy should be done by a permanent, independent, and non-partisan body, such as a citizens’ assembly. This way we can ensure our democracy is built to serve voters.”

Szuchewycz said the way election reform works now, makes no sense.

“Right now, the ruling party is in charge of election rules, which has stalled electoral reform for generations, because what prime minister would be stupid enough to change the system which brought them to power?”

Until there’s an independent body to regulate elections, Szuchewycz said, the Longest Ballot Committee will keep doing what it does.

Poilievre lost his long-held Carleton riding to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy in the April election, and is running in a byelection to regain a seat in Parliament. Alberta Conservative MP Damien Kurek (Battle River-Crowfoot) said he plans on resigning his seat so Poilievre can run there.

The Longest Ballot Committee said it plans on running “a lot” of candidates in the byelection. CTV reported it would have more than 200 candidates.

Szuchewycz said this petition has no impact on its plans for the Alberta byelection, and it will continue making extra-long ballots.

People who want to sign the petition can do so online by searching e-6573 on the petitions section of ourcommons.ca or in person at Jackson’s consituency office at 658 10th St. in Brandon.

alambert@brandonsun.com