(Ottawa) Kieran Szuchewycz, the official agent for 77 candidates whose names appeared on the ballot in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun, is pleased with the visibility of the initiative that began in 2021 and has continued to grow since then. And he is challenging politicians to block the Longest Ballot Committee.
The day after the by-election won by the Bloc Québécois on a narrow margin, he brushed aside criticism of the Longest Bulletin Committee’s tactics. [Longest Ballot Committee].
“We know why [les candidats et députés] “They don’t like us: because our message is that politicians should not decide the electoral rules. They don’t want to lose that power,” Kieran Szuchewycz surmises on the other end of the line.
“We’re having a lot of fun. It’s a satirical campaign,” he continues.
Despite the efforts made by Elections Canada (hiring additional election workers, beginning of the counting of advance votes four hours before the closing of polling stations), the results came out in dribs and drabs in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ELECTIONS CANADA
Elections Canada had to change the layout of the ballot to accommodate all the candidates.
The final score finally came in early in the morning, around 2:30 a.m.
In Montreal, the three main candidates – Laura Palestini (Liberal Party), Craig Sauvé (New Democratic Party), and finally Louis-Philippe Sauvé (Bloc Québécois) spoke to their activists without knowing their fate.
Together, the dozens of candidates on the Committee collected just over 1,110 votes in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun, more than the gap separating the winner, Bloc Québécois member Louis-Philippe Sauvé, from Liberal Laura Palestini (248 votes, according to preliminary results from Elections Canada).
“Do we feel like we helped the Bloc Québécois win? It’s impossible to say. I don’t know who votes for our candidates,” says Kieran Szuchewycz. “The idea has always been to spark a debate on an issue that we think is important. We never thought we would get votes.”
The activist, who successfully challenged the requirement to put up $1,000 to run for federal office, is challenging politicians, as well as Elections Canada, to fix the problem.
He argues that the ballot does not need to be a metre long to avoid delays due to its handling: Elections Canada only has to follow the example of Toronto, where the names of the 102 mayoral candidates fit on a sheet of 8.5 x 17 inches, he argues.
“That, or they just ban us,” Kieran Szuchewycz taunts.
Former Chief Electoral Officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley is fiercely opposed to this move. He has proposed increasing the number of signatures required to run, which is currently set at 100.
Voters in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun had a total of 91 candidates to choose from in Monday’s by-election. Last June, in the Toronto—St. Paul’s by-election, 84 candidates were on the ballot.