Mitch Marner, Alberta hot topics in a Toronto byelection. Here’s why

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OTTAWA — As nominations close Monday on the Toronto-St. Paul’s federal byelection, an enduring election activism campaign has ensured it’ll be one for the record books.

As of early Monday afternoon, 77 candidates are registered to contest the riding that has been held consistently by the Liberals for over three decades, which will easily break Winnipeg South Centre’s record-breaking 48-name ballot during last year’s federal byelection.

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That election’s 50-by-30 centimetre ballot was so large — nearly the size of a single page of the National Post — it required an amendment to the Canada Elections Act to legally allow it.

These swollen ballots come courtesy of the Longest Ballot Committee, an ongoing protest urging reforms to Canada’s election laws, which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau vowed to fix during the 2015 election campaign.

“The longest ballot is a fun way to start important conversations about our democracy,” read a written statement to the National Post from Kieran & Tomas Szuchewycz, the organizers behind the committee.

“Most voters recognize that politicians have too much skin in the game when it comes to deciding election rules. It’s a straightforward conflict of interest, but MPs would prefer no one pointed this out.”

Voters in the downtown Toronto riding head to the polls June 24.

All but five of the candidates running in Toronto-St. Paul’s list Kieran Szuchewycz as their official agent.

Parties contesting the election include the Liberals, Greens, NDP, Marijuana, Centrist and Rhinoceros.

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Among the committee’s gripes are Trudeau’s failed promise to do away with first-past-the-post (FTTP) elections, in which winning candidates are chosen based on whoever gets the most votes.

Proponents say other methods, including ranked ballots, produce results far more consistent with the will of the voters.

The first candidate officially registered for the byelection was Sébastien CoRhino, from Rimouski, QC, who despite being leader of the Rhinoceros Party chose instead to run as an independent, and graciously let caucus mate Sean Carson run under the party banner.

“Maybe it’s the first time it’s happened in history, a political leader who’s not running for his party,” CoRhino told the National Post.

“It gives you a lot of freedom to do and say whatever you want without (toeing) the party line.”

Also appearing on the ballot is Donovan Eckstrom, from Grande Prairie, Alta., whose platform largely centres around promoting western Canadian ideals. He’s also tweeted his ire about Toronto Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, who he says is “a bum.”

“I believe in Alberta, I believe in what Alberta can bring, I believe Alberta is the best province,” he told the National Post.

“To bring that Albertan spirit to Toronto — as some might say the centre of Canada — I think it’s a powerful maneuver, and thanks to the Longest Ballot Committee, Torontonians now have a choice, which is simply sensational.”

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Current election rules allow eligible candidates to contest elections from anywhere in Canada, even from those who don’t reside within the riding.

Also on the ballot is Agnieszka Marszalek, a schoolteacher from Pickle Lake — a remote northern Ontario community about 500 km. north of Thunder Bay — who said her involvement in the campaign is to raise awareness of the problems in Canada’s electoral system.

“We have loopholes that nobody fixes, and yet people complain about how our system is ineffective — then do something,” she said.

“If more people become active participants in our political system, in our political life, then more things would actually be changed, and politicians would start looking at the interests of the citizens, not the lobbyists lining their pockets.”

Liberal MP Carolyn Bennett, who was re-elected nine times during her time in office, resigned her seat in January and, the same day, was named Canada’s ambassador to Denmark.

Meanwhile, the organizers of the protest say election reform in Canada isn’t an impossible dream.

“Gerrymandering once existed in Canada, but then vanished the moment the job of drawing riding boundaries was taken out of the hands of politicians and passed to a non-partisan commission,” the Szuchewyczs said in their statement.

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“This lesson can and should be applied to the rest of our democracy. We believe an independent body made up of everyday Canadians would do a far better job delivering the fair, ethical, and robust democracy we voters deserve.”

National Post

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