Of the 36,962 voters who voted in the Toronto–St. Paul’s, none made a cross next to the name of independent candidate Félix-Antoine Hamel.
On the other end of the line, the Montreal jazz musician bursts out laughing when asked about his result.
“I’m very happy! It’s funny. And when I knew I had zero votes, I said: ‘I’m the candidate of unity, no one is against me!'” he says ironically.
“We laugh a little, but at the same time, I think it’s interesting, because it puts forward a subject that is serious: electoral reform,” continues Félix-Antoine Hamel.
“It’s a fun way to get involved and educate people about how our electoral system works,” says Kieran Szuchewycz, the official agent for all of these candidates.
“When we collect signatures, people always find it hilarious,” says the Winnipeg man, a legal assistant.
The former director general of Elections Canada Jean-Pierre Kingsley is far from finding the initiative comical.
“People who do this may think it’s brilliant… it’s not,” he says in an interview.
“If we want to change the system, it is to further favor the voter, and these methods do exactly the opposite”, because it “feeds confusion among the latter”, he continues.
And that’s without taking into account the fact that an “unreasonable” list of candidates “makes counting the ballots complex,” insists Jean-Pierre Kingsley.
The counting was also laborious in the riding of Toronto–St. Paul’s. The time between the closing of the polling stations and the announcement of the results was approximately eight hours.
“We are still assessing how the by-election went,” wrote Elections Canada spokesperson Matthew McKenna.
“As we do after each by-election, we will publish a report that will talk about what worked well and areas for improvement,” he also indicated.
In a report on the Mississauga–Lakeshore by-election in 2022, the independent organization noted the “exceptionally high number” of 34 candidates, a “record” at the time.
The majority of them having the same official agent, this raised “the question of whether [they] were really running for office on their own,” it is written in the same document.
“I think Elections Canada is trying very hard to imply that what we are doing is wrong. It’s not,” reacts Kieran Szuchewycz.
Kieran Szuchewycz is not his first foray into electoral territory. In 2017, he scored a victory — not at the ballot box, but in court.
The Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta won his case, repealing the mandatory deposit of $1,000, on the grounds that this requirement was unconstitutional1.
Since the federal government did not appeal the decision, the provision now has the force of law.
“What they are doing now is legal. But it’s not legitimate,” says Jean-Pierre Kingsley.
He suggests a prompt legislative change, worrying about seeing the same phenomenon happen again during the next general election, which should take place sometime next year.
On this subject, Kieran Szuchewycz says nothing, except to say “we’ll see”.
However, he mentions that by-elections are more favorable times to spark a debate on the issue of the voting method than general elections.
“It’s certain that if there were 84 names on each ballot paper, it could be complicated,” comments Félix-Antoine Hamel.
In Toronto–St. Paul’s, Conservative MP Don Stewart had the upper hand over his Liberal rival Leslie Church, with a 590-vote lead.
Together, the committee’s independent candidates for the longest ballot amassed more than 1,000 votes.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged during the 2015 election campaign to reform the voting system.
He broke that promise in 2017 and later acknowledged that he should have specified that his preference was preferential voting, not proportional.