Adedokun Waliyu 
As of April 7, with just hours until the deadline to register in the federal election, 56 candidates were on the ballot in Carleton.
Over the weekend, 51 of those candidates, most of them listed as independents, were added to the voter list. Each of them had the same official agent — Tomas Szuchewycz, who is affiliated with a group known as the Longest Ballot Committee.
In an email, Szuchewycz confirmed that the Longest Ballot Committee is behind the surge of candidates on the ballot in Carleton.
“Yes, the Longest Ballot Committee is responsible for the numerous candidates now registered. There are many more to come,” he said in an email.
The group, once affiliated with the Rhinoceros Party, floods ballots with a large number of independent candidates to protest the first-past-the-post voting system and other electoral reform issues.
“We do this to make the point that politicians should not be in charge of election rules because of the obvious conflict of interest. After all, what prime minister would change a system which brought them to power? We advocate for politicians to recuse themselves and pass decisions about election rules to a permanent, independent, and non-partisan body such as a citizens’ assembly,” Szuchewycz said.
Fifty of the 51 new Carleton candidates for which Szuchewycz is the official agent are listed as independent. One is listed as a candidate with the Rhinoceros party. Szuchewycz, or someone with the same name, is listed on the University of Waterloo website as an undergrad student.
Until the Long Ballot influx, five candidates were on the ballot in Carleton — Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre, who has represented Carleton since 2025, Liberal challenger Bruce Fanjoy, NDP candidate Beth Prokaska and Green Party candidate Mark Watson.
The riding that hugs the southern edge of Ottawa has been the focus of heightened attention during the campaign, in part because Poilievre’s solid lead prior to the election all but vanished in the wake of Justin Trudeau’s election and growing threats from the Trump administration. Some have suggested Poilievre’s seat could be at risk.
“It doesn’t cost money to be a candidate. My brother actually got rid of the old candidate wealth test in 2017 by going to court,” said Szuchewycz. “This is a great cause and I really hope MPs end this ridiculous conflict of interest because right now us voters are not served well when election rules are up to them.”
Critics say the political stunt acts as a voter suppression tool because it makes it more difficult — especially for people with visual impairment — to vote.
