September 13, 2024
LaSalle–Émard–Verdun September 16 Federal By-Election
Longest Ballot Project Fulfills a Need for Electoral Reform
Residents enthusiastically sign to nominate candidates for the Longest Ballot project in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun by-election.
• Longest Ballot Project Fulfills a Need for Electoral Reform
• Arbitrariness of Prime Minister’s Prerogative Powers to Call By-Elections
• Cartel Party Finances in the By-Election
• Charles Lemieux, Another Candidate Who’s Not Afraid to Take on Outdated Electoral System
LaSalle–Émard–Verdun September 16 Federal By-Election
Longest Ballot Project Fulfills a Need for Electoral Reform
The number of candidates joining the Longest Ballot Project has steadily grown since it was launched following the ruling Liberal Party’s back-tracking on its 2015 electoral promise to end the first-past-the-post method of counting ballots to determine the winner of an election. In 2021, 40 candidates for electoral reform were registered in Winnipeg South Centre; in 2022, 48 candidates were registered in the riding of Mississauga-Lakeshore. The Toronto-St. Paul’s by-election on June 24 had a ballot with 84 candidates, of whom 78 raised the flag of electoral reform. In the current by-election in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun on September 16, 79 out of 91 candidates are running on the basis of electoral reform.
An aim of the Longest Ballot Project is to cause a discussion on the need for electoral reform. Media coverage, good and bad, propels this forward. A July 24 Hill Times article summed up the expanding involvement as an indication of “‘frustration’ with first-past-the-post system.”
The article includes comments by Sharon Sommerville of Fair Vote Canada, who has been working for proportional representation since 2011 and actually participated in the drafting of the Liberal Party’s 2014 policy to establish a special All-Party Committee on Electoral Reform. The Liberal Government perfunctorily dismissed the Committee’s 2017 recommendation of a form of proportional representation. Sommerville described the Longest Ballot Project as a “really interesting way” to put the issue of electoral reform on the agenda. “They’re saying, ‘how can we bring some attention to how this [the current electoral system] doesn’t work?”
The Longest Ballot campaign has also brought to the fore how the current political process is obstructing the possibilities of electoral reform. Sommerville told the Hill Times that the Longest Ballot is “born out of deep disappointment and frustration,” and people are now taking the next step.
“The fundamental issue with our system is that most people are shut out, and that frustration is what brought me into advocacy for electoral reform,” said Sommerville.
York University political scientist Dennis Pilon told the Hill Times that the “channels of advocacy and policy development … clearly aren’t working.” Pilon, who wrote The Politics of Voting: Reforming Canada’s Electoral System and Wrestling with Democracy: Voting Systems as Politics in the Twentieth-Century West, said “Democracy is supposed to be about people being able to represent their views, and change their minds.” He argued that the evidence makes it “‘fairly plain that the current system is unfair,’ and doesn’t represent different views equitably.”
He told the Hill Times that “the arguments made against making a democratic change are all about the fear of what might happen if the voters actually had more power.”
Pilon’s said that “it’s a big question, and not surprisingly, there’s a lot of wrinkles to the analysis of it.” “Many people look at the way in which different voting systems give incentives to parties to behave in certain ways,” Pilon told the Hill Times.
While the aim of electoral reform is objectively rooted in enabling the body politic to have a say in what happens in the country, the prospect of ending the first-past-the-post system is also being broached by some from the angle of how it could affect the behaviour of the cartel parties that are obstructing change. Thus the Hill Times asked various experts if proportional representation might “diminish the recent uptick in hate and harassment towards elected officials.””
“Western University professor Laura Stephenson said a democratic system that favours coalition governments could help lower the temperature,” the Hill Times reported. Stephenson told the paper, “We can probably decrease some of that party hate if we had a system where we had coalition governments because, in that case, you never know who’s going to be in government.”
“In other words, the parties themselves and the leaders and the MPs and all those campaigning will have no incentive to get out there and bad mouth everyone else, especially if they’re going to end up having to turn around and work with them,” she added.
In fact, the bad-mouthing that takes place today is par for the course when campaigns are run by marketing agencies who think this is a good way to get candidates rejected or elected. These methods lower the level of politics and do not address the issue of the lack of representativeness that the cartel parties embody and their lack of accountability. This plus their lowering of the political culture is what people hate.
Arbitrariness of Prime Minister’s Prerogative Powers
to Call By-Elections
On June 29, the Liberal Party chose September 16th for by-elections to fill two of the three vacant seats in the House of Commons: Elmwood–Transcona, Manitoba and LaSalle–Émard–Verdun in Quebec.
The Parliament of Canada Act states that when a House of Commons seat becomes vacant, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) must be officially notified “without delay.” From the point of notification, a by-election must be called no sooner than 11 days and no later than 180. The calling of a by-election and the campaign length is up the Prime Minister and his entourage of political advisors. They decide the length of the campaign period within the legally permitted range of 36 to 50 days.
LaSalle–Émard–Verdun became vacant February 1, when Liberal MP David Lametti resigned after losing his Ministry of Justice portfolio. The by-election had to be called no later than July 30.
Elmwood-Transcona was vacated on April 2, when NDP MP Daniel Blaikie resigned to become intergovernmental affairs advisor to Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew. It had to be called no later than September 29.
A third seat for the riding of Cloverdale–Langley City in British Columbia has been empty since May when Liberal MP John Aldag resigned to run for the NDP in the upcoming October British Columbia election. The Liberals could have also called the by-election for September 16. It has to be called no later than November 30.
This arbitrariness certainly has nothing to do with the needs of electors for representation. Canadians are not privy to the reasons why a by-election is expedited or delayed, while media pundits go into overdrive speculating on how the timing of the exercise of the Prime Minister’s prerogative powers relates to the electoral fortunes of the ruling party.
It does reveal the absence of any accountability of elected members to the constituents they claim to represent. When and if an MP resigns, they do not even have to call a single meeting with their constituents to explain the reasons for their resignation or render account for their time in Parliament. Resignations are a personal matter of the MP himself or herself and maybe between the MP and the particular cartel party affected by their resignation. Nothing to do with the interests of the polity whatsoever.
Cartel Party Finances in the By-Election
The campaign election expense limit for candidates in the riding of LaSalle–Émard–Verdun was $110,554.58 in the 2021 General Federal Election. Candidates who obtained 10 per cent of the vote were entitled to a reimbursement for their eligible campaign expenses at a rate of 60 per cent. The election spending limit for the current by-election is $126,490.05.
Prior to the by-election the riding of LaSalle–Émard–Verdun was described as a “safe” Liberal riding. Given the crisis in which the Trudeau Liberals find themselves, there is much speculation about whether they will be able to hold the seat on September 16.
In 2021 in the riding of LaSalle–Émard–Verdun, there were six candidates contending for election. Candidates of the parties without representation in the House of Commons spent nothing. Pascal Antonin of the Free Party Canada spent $2.73 to open and close a bank account. JP Fortin of the Communist Party filed a nil return. Sarah Carter of the Green Party of Canada also filed a nil return.
NDP candidate Jason De Lierre was the only candidate to report contributions received on his own behalf. He reported two: one from himself for $2,000 and another for $1,000. He received a $2,000 transfer from the local NDP riding association. He spent a total of $3,037 of which $2,764 were subject to the election spending limit and eligible for reimbursement.
Janina Moran, the Conservative candidate received no direct contributions but received a $1,500 transfer from the local Conservative district association. The campaign incurred expenses of $714 for accounting and banking fees.
Raphaël Guérard of the Bloc Québécois received no contributions directly, but received transfers from the party in the amount of $18,000. His campaign incurred expenses of $10,444.29 of which $9,992.28 was subject to the spending limit.
Winner Liberal David Lametti received no direct contributions. His campaign funds were comprised of $15,411 from the Liberal Party and another $85,000 from the district Liberal Party association. His campaign incurred expenses of $103,515 of which $63,469 was subject to the campaign expense limit, so he received a reimbursement of $36,778. In the 2019 general election, Lametti received a reimbursement of $42,798. Prior to that, in the 2015 general election, Lametti’s campaign funds consisted of $29,200 from the Liberal Party and $91,300 from the Liberal District Association. He received $57,000 in reimbursements for his expense spending of $99,835.
In 2020, the Liberal Association that transferred the funds to Lametti received $11,000 from 111 contributors; in 2021 it raised $76,990 from 204 contributors; In 2022 it raised $15,308 from 131 contributors; In 2023, $30,752 from 133 contributors.
In 2020, the Conservative District Association raised $72 from one contributor; for the period from 2021 to 2023 it reported $0 contributions.
The impression, or illusion, is created that in each election the cartel parties wage campaigns to present their election platforms to the electorate. The same is the case in a by-election. How the cartel parties deploy their funds, a large part of which comes from the public purse, tells a different story. Even though all candidates in a riding have the same spending limits and the rules for reimbursement apply to all equally, there is nothing fair and free about access to media or how citizens receive information about the candidates and what they stand for.
How much money the candidates from the cartel parties spend in this election will soon be revealed. Clearly, nothing will come for free for whoever wins and it is the citizens who will pay the price!
Readers’ Forum
I was one of the activists who collected signatures for the candidates running for the modernization of the electoral law. In less than two days, we collected almost 13,000 signatures! The most striking aspect: people’s enthusiasm for contributing to a project that meets their aspirations. Many said, I’m going to vote for one of your candidates, now I’m going to make a real choice!
– Resident of Verdun
Canadians and Quebeckers from all walks of life are increasingly aware of the need to renew the democracy and introduce new arrangements where they can have a say in all the decisions that concern them. Governments in Canada are made up of elected officials over whom we have no control. In fact they themselves have no control over what the Party bosses tell them to do and say. They represent the British Crown while in fact they are forced to do the bidding of the U.S.! The current electoral system grants power to representatives of a class of people who rule by decree. This is not democracy if it is to be understood as rule by the people.
– A student at Cegep Larendeau
For the vote of citizens to mean anything, they need to be able to choose their candidate and the political program to be used to solve the problems they face, in their ridings as in society at large. The program of the Marxist-Leninist Party which calls for such elected representatives to choose the ministers and prime minister who form a government is a good one. Such a government would be responsible for carrying out the programs chosen by the citizens. One of the first things the parliament should do is also choose a head of state who represents the peoples of Canada and Quebec, not the King of England! Now that’s a project that would serve national unity!
– A reader of In the News
Sébastien CoRhino, Candidate for the Longest Ballot Project,
Speaks in Favour of Modernizing the Elections Act
Sébastien CoRhino is the leader of the federally registered Rhinoceros Party. He is a candidate for the Longest Ballot Project (Project) in the federal by-election in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun (LEV) on September 16, joined by 78 other independent and small-party candidates who are part of the Project. In an interview on Quebec’s QUB Radio on September 11, Sébastien described the Project as a call to say No! to the first-past-the-post method of counting votes and explained its purpose, its appropriateness and its necessity. Here are some extracts from the interview.
“The Liberals promised it in 2015, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) promised it in 2018. They promised that this would be the last election with the current voting system. What we want to say to Canadians is that, at the moment, we have an electoral system inherited from a Westminster parliament. And we still have the same voting system we had in rural England 300 years ago. Today, we’re in urban Canada, in 2024, and we still have the same voting system that existed in rural England 300 years ago.
“We think we need a new voting system. The current voting system actually penalizes us, because it means that for 150 years only two parties have been able to come to power. The party-in-power, which has an absolute majority and controls everything that happens in Parliament listens a little to the opposition but, when it wants to, the Prime Minister in power can write any bill he wants and pass it with his MPs, because he has an absolute majority of MPs in the House.
“We think that Canadians are poorly served by this electoral system and that it’s time for a reform of the voting system, a real reform of Parliament, in Ottawa and Quebec too.
“And then there are the senators who are appointed for life, who aren’t even elected, so that’s another matter that’s [problematic]. And that’s serious. Senators could be drawn at random, have four-year terms, six-year non-renewable terms; there could be all sorts of solutions, but no, they are appointed for life. It’s completely absurd.
“That’s why we say there should be an independent committee, with citizens and people deciding the rules for election day, and not the political parties in power who won.
[…]
“We can talk about inflation and the housing crisis, the fact that the rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, there really are problems that could be considered more important than the Elections Act, but it’s a fundamental problem because it also affects the way we manage our Canadian politics. I’ll give you a small example: in 2008, the Green Party of Canada got almost a million votes and had zero MPs. Meanwhile, the Conservatives got 5.5 million votes, 142 MPs and a minority government.”
Commenting on the length of time it takes to process the longest ballot in an election, Sébastien said: “[…] it’s not that we’re ‘discarding democracy.’ It’s the fact that our electoral system has never been changed, and can only be changed by the person who wins the election. And I think that’s serious, because the only person who has the right to write and amend the Elections Act is the person who wins the election. At the moment, it’s as if the Stanley Cup winner had the right to rewrite the rules of the game for the following year.
“So it should be an independent committee. When these people (in power) are in opposition, what do they tell us? ‘We’re going to change the voting system,’ but once the voting system allows them to keep power, they suddenly find the voting system good.”
“We’ve done everything, we’ve written letters to our MP. I testified before a parliamentary committee in Ottawa on voting reform. I wrote to the Minister for Democratic Institutions. […] As I said, we did everything we could,” Sébastien added.
At the end of the interview, Sébastien reiterated how a modernized electoral law would change the face of Parliament. Parliament “would be very different, the debates would be different, the ways of thinking and the people would be represented differently,” he said.
Way to go Sébastien! What you say is so true and Canadians know it!
Charles Lemieux, Another Candidate Who’s Not Afraid to
Take on Outdated Electoral System
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My name is Charles Lemieux. I’m a professor at Cégep Marie-Victorin and an independent candidate associated with the Longest Ballot Project for the September 16 federal by-election in the riding of LaSalle–Émard–Verdun. This initiative is intended to express the population’s widespread dissatisfaction with the first-past-the-post voting system introduced by the British in the 19th century, which not only creates the distortions we know about, but also deprives the population of any effective power between elections.
In a recent editorial in La Presse, we were accused of “making a mockery of our elections” and of being “phony candidates.” But who’s kidding who here, when we see how elected MPs either don’t do, or do the opposite of, what they promised during election campaigns? Like Justin Trudeau, who promised to reform the voting system, but ended up doing nothing? Like the broken promises of MPs over whom we have no power after the election? Who are the real “phony candidates” here?
We think it’s high time we had a wide-ranging political discussion on this crucial democratic issue, at a time when governments in power are leading us down paths we don’t want to go down, whether on environmental issues or on those of a foreign policy aligned with U.S. warmongering.
Together, Let’s Modernize the Election Act!
Charles Lemieux
Independent candidate for the Longest Ballot Project
in LaSalle–Émard–Verdun
clxexprimezvous@gmail.com
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