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. Most 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.
I completely agree with your assessment. This ballot protest is indeed a powerful yet peaceful way to highlight the fundamental flaws in our electoral system.
Your preference for proportional representation over ranked ballots is well-founded. While ranked ballots (IRV) might seem like an improvement, they’re still a winner-take-all system that wastes votes. Under Single Transferable Vote (STV), you can actually have both ranked ballots AND proportional representation!
If you’re looking to help advance the PR movement, check out: Simple things you can do right now, to grow the proportional representation movement