More than 50 candidates registered in Alberta byelection where Pierre Poilievre hopes to win back a seat

PM Mark Carney has declared a byelection in August for a rural Alberta riding vacated to allow Pierre Poilievre to run for a seat. Colton Praill has the details

Dozens of independent candidates have already registered in the rural Alberta riding of Battle River—Crowfoot byelection, where Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre hopes to win back a seat in the House of Commons.

The list stems from a co-ordinated effort by electoral reform advocacy group the “Longest Ballot Committee,” which is aiming to break records during this byelection by registering hundreds of candidates.

Poilievre, meanwhile, is calling the initiative “unfair” and a “scam.”

While the vast majority of candidates in the riding are running as independents, hopefuls from the United, Libertarian, Christian Heritage and Conservative parties have also put their names forward.

Poilievre — who’d been an MP in the Ottawa-area riding of Carleton for more than 20 years — lost his seat in April to Liberal political rookie Bruce Fanjoy.

Within days of the election, now-former Conservative MP Damien Kurek announced his intention to give up his seat, in the hopes of paving a way for Poilievre to replace him in the riding.

Kurek was first elected to the riding in 2019. He won the 2025 election with nearly 83 per cent of the vote.

He officially resigned his seat on June 17, the first date at which he was allowed to do so, according to parliamentary procedure.

During the April election, 91 candidates were registered in Poilievre’s former riding, so Elections Canada approved starting to count advance ballots six hours before polls closed.

With 91 names on it, each ballot was about one metre long, and Elections Canada estimated it could take about three times as long to count them, factoring the time it takes to unfold and tally each one.

Elections Canada also made some adjustments to accommodate the number of ballot boxes needed to fit all the super ballots.

At a town hall with Kurek in Stettler, Alta., last week, Poilievre criticized the initiative and suggested measures to prevent the Longest Ballot Committee from participating in elections. For example, he said, all candidates could be obligated to present 1,000 unique signatures from residents in the community before getting their name on the ballot.

“There are a number of other things that you could do that would make it so that only real candidates who are truly running to put their name forward in our democracy are on that list,” he said. “But either way, we have to take action, because this is a scam.”

“It is unfair, it is unjust, and must stop,” he added.

In an email statement to CTV News, Libertarian candidate Michael Harris called the Longest Ballot Committee a “mockery of the democratic process.”

“This flood of joke candidates doesn’t just waste voters’ time,” Harris wrote. “It actively hurts serious independent and third-party candidates who are working hard to give this riding real alternatives to the status quo.”

The Longest Ballot Committee also participated in two high-stakes byelections last summer, in Toronto—St. Paul’s and LaSalle—Émard—Verdun, where there were 84 and 91 candidates registered, respectively.

In response to Poilievre’s criticisms, a statement from the Longest Ballot Committee called the Conservatives leader’s democratic reform suggestions a “conflict of interest.”

“Poilievre’s proposal for a new 1,000 signature requirement would have a profound and negative impact on Canadian democracy,” the statement reads. “In most of Canada it would turn every election into a two-party race, and in safe ridings, like Battle River—Crowfoot, we would likely see no election at all, races would simply be won by acclamation.”

No Liberal candidate has registered in Battle River—Crowfoot, but the party has announced that engineer and “energy leader” Darcy Spady is running for the seat, and has been campaigning.

Without a seat in the House of Commons, Poilievre has been unable to participate in question period during this Parliament. Andrew Scheer is serving as Official Opposition leader in the interim, and the House has now risen for the summer break, so the mid-August byelection means Poilievre could be back in the chamber when MPs return in September.

The deadline for candidates to register is July 28, and residents will head to the polls on Aug. 18.

Advance polls will take place Aug. 8–11.

With files from CTV News’ Rachel Aiello