Whistleblower was “duped” by Longest Ballot Committee

A whistleblower allegedly involved with the Longest Ballot committee has come forward, saying he now feels “duped” and “misled” by the organization.

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A whistleblower allegedly involved with the Longest Ballot Committee has come forward, saying he now feels “duped” and “misled” by the organization after he had agreed to run as a candidate in the 2024 Toronto—St. Paul's by-election.

The Longest Ballot group is known for nominating as many candidates as possible in ridings as a form of protest.

The alleged anonymous whistleblower told independent media outlet Northern Perspective that he initially joined the Longest Ballot cause because he took issue with Canada’s first-past-the-post electoral system.

The man was informed that all he was obligated to do to participate was provide his name as a candidate and that the Longest Ballot committee would do the rest, including “appointing a CFO, collecting the required nomination signatures and filing the paperwork.”

The whistleblower submitted his candidate information for the Toronto–St. Paul’s riding only three days before the election deadline.

“Northern Perspective has obtained internal emails, text messages, and first-hand testimony from a whistleblower who ran on the Longest Ballot,” Ryan Davies, Northern Perspective’s founder, told True North.

“The evidence we’ve reviewed raises serious concerns — including what appear to be blank candidate fields on nomination forms, coordinated activity resembling an unregistered political party, and practices that could potentially constitute forgery or misrepresentation/impersonation under the Canada Elections Act.”

Furthermore, the whistleblower confirmed to Northern Perspective that he did not personally sign or review his final nomination paperwork before it was submitted.

While he offered to participate as a candidate in the riding of Toronto–St. Paul’s during the last election, he was not a resident of the area.

“Let’s face it. I’m not from St.Paul’s. I’m hundreds of miles away,” he said. “I don’t know anything about St. Paul’s.” Candidates are not legally required to live in a riding in order to run for election.

The whistleblower went on to say that he regretted his involvement with the organization.

“I think I was duped,” he said, noting that the committee attempted to recruit him again in 2025, on the pretense that they were going to run a number of candidates in Liberal leader Mark Carney’s riding.

“Then they wanted me to go against, they said, Mark Carney. Then they tried to trick me, basically,” he said. “It was actually Pierre’s (Poilievre). They never did Mark Carney’s riding this past election.”

Elections Canada records confirm that no candidates affiliated with the Longest Ballot Committee ran against Carney.

The Longest Ballot group first gained national attention for its involvement in the Carelton riding during the last federal election.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre lost his long-held Carleton seat to Liberal candidate Bruce Fanjoy after the Longest Ballot Committee contributed to a one-metre-long ballot with 91 candidates.

The 91-name ballot matched a national record after it tied with a ballot influenced by the same group in a 2024 Quebec by-election.

Currently, the law requires only 100 signatures from local electors for someone to run.

There is no rule preventing an individual from signing nomination papers for multiple candidates, nor is there a limit on how many candidates a single official agent can represent.

The Longest Ballot committee has since begun recruiting candidates to appear on the Battle River–Crowfoot ballot, where Poilievre will run in a byelection with the hope of regaining a seat in Parliament.

“In the past few days, we’ve received dozens and dozens of emails from people asking to join the ballot for the upcoming by-election in Battle River–Crowfoot,” the group said in a recent email. “We will do our best to make a long ballot happen if we get at least 200 people signing up to be candidates.”

The Battle River–Crowfoot riding currently has 209 candidates, 199 of which appear associated with the Longest Ballot Committee.

The Conservatives called on the federal government to close what they call a glaring loophole in Canada’s election laws last week.

Further investigation by Northern Perspective alleges that signatures were collected by the committee while the candidates’ names on the forms were left blank, presumably to be filled in at a later time. It would not be possible for an individual signing the form to truthfully endorse a candidate when they did not know the candidate’s name.

“We believe these activities warrant a full investigation by Elections Canada and, if necessary, law enforcement. Earlier this morning, we contacted Elections Canada and sent them many samples of the evidence we have and implored them to begin an investigation immediately,” said Davies.

True North contacted the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections to inquire whether any of the Longest Ballot committee’s activity was in violation of the Elections Canada Act.

“It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to speculate as to whether or not the circumstances in the video would be contrary to the Canada Elections Act (the Act), so I’m not in a position to comment on the matter,” responded a spokesperson.

“That said, the Commissioner encourages anyone who thinks they have witnessed a potential contravention of the Act to submit a complaint to the Office of the Commissioner of Canada Elections (OCCE) via our online form.”

At the time of publishing, the Longest Ballot Committee has not responded to True North’s inquiries regarding the allegations made by the whistleblower and Northern Perspective.