It seems to be a pretty low bar. A form, some supporting information, at least 100 signatures, and no mention of a fee.
You need 100 signatures from eligible voters in the riding you are seeking to run in and provide some information, mostly online.
All of those Longest Ballot Committee candidates have the same registered agent and likely had their nomination papers signed by the same 100 people. Signing nomination papers doesn’t commit you to 1 candidate.
But with the very thin margin the House, it wouldn’t take very many Republicans turning on him to make him lose the confidence of the House, were you a parliamentary system. As it stands, your impeachment process makes it far more difficult for the president to lose office. Parliamentary systems are a lot more flexible this way.
Trump is a head of state; the Canadian PM is not. Getting rid of OUR head of state is even more difficult… which is why our head of state isn’t given political power.
Does that mean provincial (and any municipal) elections are held separately? Because that sounds less convenient, not more.
Yes. Federal, provincial, and municipal elections are all held separately. Its the ballots that are simple, and marking/casting a ballot is painfully straightforward.
Canadian municipal elections (at least in Ontario) can be more complicated, with separate ballots for mayor, councillors, and various other elected positions such as school board members (with separate Ontario ballots depending on if you’re a Public or Separate school supporter), but federal and provincial elections are as simple as noted above. Separate elections are a function of Parliamentary government, as federal and provincial elections can occur at any time if the government falls. Municipal elections are held on specified dates, however, although different provinces may have different dates.
Carney has had his first minor scandal by saying the situation in Gaza both is and isn’t a genocide:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-clarifies-genocide-remarks-1.7506027
TLDR version: someone in a crowed yelled out “Genocide in Palestine!” and Carney replied “I’m aware” but has since made clarifying remarks to let everyone know he didn’t hear the G-word.
I like that there is no “lame duck” period after parliament is dissolved. If a party, senator, or congressperson in the States loses in November, they have until late January to pass as many laws as they want without worrying about voters.
Why do I suspect that the bulk of their signers are other people on the ballot?
@John_Bredin, what you need to know is that, though we have more elections, in Canada each election is ridiculously easy and convenient. For example, every election I recall voting in has entailed a five to ten minute walk followed by up to a five minute wait, at which point I use a ballot like @orcenio 's example.
Municipal elections, at least in Ontario, are fixed date. They are Mayor/council setups so they aren’t Westminster based and there are no parties and the mayor doesn’t hold office based on the confidence of council.
The provincial and federal elections are not tied as they are Westminster based.
As an aside, we generally don’t have referendums, plebiscites, or ballot initiatives so voting is very simple with just one office. Municipal elections have three sections for Mayor, Councillor, and School Board.
One of the other interesting differences with Canadian federal elections is that by law, you must have three consecutive hours available off work on election day to allow you to get to your polling station and vote.
Usually polls are open for 12 hours (9am to 9pm) which works for most office workers, but for shift workers that might not work out. So your employer has to adapt your hours/schedule to give you that time, and cannot penalize you in terms of pay.
Very different from what I’ve read about in many US states (I know it’s state dependent).
For elections at the provincial, school and municipal level, Québec law allows for four consecutive hours off. I’m disinclined to check the other provinces and territories but I assume there’s similar legislation.
What’s the value in having everything all at once? What’s the connection between the issues raised by the presidential campaign, and the mayoral campaign? The senate campaign and the school board?
Our provincial parties are different from our federal parties, and may have no overlapping issues, so why elect them at the same time? Last year in my province, the provincial election was in the fall and the issues under discussion did not have much connection to the federal government, so what’s the value in having both elections at the same time?
The elections are run by the federal Chief Electoral Officer for federal campaigns, by the provincial Chief Electoral Officer for the provincial campaign, and by the municipality for the municipal / school board campaigns.
When there’s a provincial election, my attention is focussed on provincial issues. Now that we’ve got a federal election, I’m focussed on federal issues.
This is something I don’t think most Americans know. We also have municipal parties that are different from provincial and federal parties. I think this is a good thing.
An example:
Vancouver: Municipal political parties in Vancouver - Wikipedia
British Columbia: List of political parties in British Columbia - Wikipedia
Canada: List of federal political parties in Canada - Wikipedia
Just to elaborate on this:
The last federal election was on September 20, 2021. Since the usual term for a Parliament is 4 years (it’s more complicated than that, but let’s take that as the starting point), the election would normally have been in October, 2025.
But there was a change in leadership in government, with a new Prime Minister coming into office after winning the Liberal Party leadership. He doesn’t have a seat in the House of Commons, and there’s all the Trump annexation and tariff issues, so the new PM decided to call an election right away, hoping to get confirmed in office by winning a seat and winning a majority government.
So far, that gamble looks like it’s paying off for him.
But there’s no reason for any of the provincial governments to go to the polls, just because there’s a federal election. As I said, my province had its election last fall. Why should we suddently have another election, because Carney dropped the writ federally? And our largest province, Ontario, had a snap election in February, allegedely to respond to the tariff and annextation issues only two and a half years into their mandate. (I’m sure Ontario Dopers have their own opinions on that.) Why should the federal or other provinces have an election because Doug Ford went to the polls?
There’s no reason to try to coordinate 14 different election cycles (federal, 10 provinces, 3 territories), when each Legislature is in a different point in its term.
Our approach actually strikes me as more consistent with federalism: the feds and the provinces are separate governments, each with their own sovereign powers. Why should the provinces have to coordinate elections with the feds? Each government sets its own electoral cycle and electoral laws.
And there’s absolutely no reason to coordinate all the municipal elections across the country, which are fixed terms, unlike the federal / provincial / territorial, as Finns points out.
You might mention that the Canadian Federal parliament has been prorogued since Justin Trudeau stepped down …tho they’ve passed some funding.
In particular extra funding for the CBC which I heartily approve.
I think the CBC is valuable and basic funding should be enshrined in law. But this increase in funding was pure politics, an inducement for Québec, and a wedge versus Pierre. The CBC executive has been generous with bonuses in times of staff reduction, and there are too few strings attached to more funding for the CBC. I’m for it if it results in better programs - I like the CBC. But I’d want to see better ideas than just making news with less commercials or executives with bigger compensation packages. If you are going to compare the CBC to the BBC, improve what they do and sell it internationally.
It was prorogued, but it’s now dissolved, to trigger the election.
The mention was for readers not familiar with Westminster rules/opportunities.
Both parties have prorogued Parliament historically.