A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for public office without a reasonable chance of winning. While there is no generally accepted "number" of times a candidate must run before being considered "perennial", contemporary sources note that two or three failed candidacies, followed by another attempt, qualifies a candidate as perennial.[1][2][3]
In Canada, perennial candidates may run with the support of small or fringe political parties, may attempt to become involved with mainstream parties without the backing of that party's membership and/or leadership executive, or may run municipally, where the influence of political parties is diminished.[4]
There are few residency requirements for elected office in Canada. Candidates may run federally in any electoral district as long as they are a Canadian citizen over the age of 18 who is not disqualified based on profession (federal judges, provincial and territorial elected representatives, the Chief Electoral Officer, or Governor General), status as an incarcerated person, or after failing to submit a campaign financial return after a previous campaign.[5] There is no requirement for a candidate to reside in the electoral district where they seek election.[6] Provincial and municipal elections rules generally require a candidate reside within the jurisdiction broadly, but do not require a candidate to reside in the direct electoral district in which they seek elected office.
These lax rules allow perennial candidates to seek elected office across Canada. John Turmel, the Canadian perennial candidate who, according to Guinness World Records holds the records for the most elections contested and for the most elections lost, has sought the offices of Mayor, Member of Provincial Parliament, and Member of Parliament in 71 different jurisdictions across Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia, since 1979.[7]
Donald Clarke Andrews (born Vilim Zlomislić) was the leader of the Nationalist Party of Canada, a white-supremacist unregistered political party active from the 1970s to the early 2000s. Andrews best result came in 1976, when he earned 5.3% of the vote for mayor of Toronto in a race against popular incumbent David Crombie. Andrews would often only contest those elections where he would be placed at the top of the ballot by virtue of his last name's alphabetical importance.
Dorian Baxter is a Christian religious minister and musician, operating out of an independent church he runs in Newmarket, Ontario. Baxter is also a local Elvis impersonator, whose music he incorporates into his services. Since 2004, he has run multiple campaigns at the federal, provincial, and municipal level, all of which were for political offices representing areas of York Region.
In 1988, Campbell ran against North York's incumbent mayor, Mel Lastman. A profile in the Toronto Star listed Campbell's age as 59 and residence as Gulliver Road in Toronto, as well as referencing a past campaign for the office of Mayor of Mississauga. He told the Star his campaign was an attempt to find a larger platform so he could campaign on issues such as "sanctions against South Africa, free trade and the Meech Lake Accord."[8]
During Campbell's campaign for mayor of Toronto in 2003, he generated media attention when he invited the audience at an all-candidates meeting to his wife's memorial service.[9] Campbell, whose age was listed as 72 during the Toronto mayoral campaign in 2006, was attacked in a National Post editorial for a statement all-candidates meeting where the candidate said voting for a capitalist mayor was like "voting to kill your fellow workers," and comparing Stephen Harper, Paul Martin, and Franklin D. Roosevelt to Adolf Hitler.[10] He was quoted in Now Magazine as also saying "If you vote for a capitalist candidate, you're voting to kill children."[11]
Bob Smith (born Robert Wayne Smith) ran for federal, provincial, and municipal office 10 times from 1972 to 2006. His best result came in 1980 when he earned 1,319 votes in a race for school trustee in Toronto's Ward 8.
^Incomplete campaigns include those campaigns where a candidate declares their intent, attempts to file, and/or begins a campaign, but is unable to continue in the campaign, does not appear on the final ballot, or the election is voided for any reason.
^While Smith had the backing of the Nationalist Party, he was listed as "Independent" on the ballot, as the party did not have official status.
References
^Weeks, Linton (September 23, 2011). "Also-Rans: What Drives The Perennial Candidates?". NPR. Retrieved August 28, 2021. For the purposes of this story, we are defining the perennial presidential candidate as someone who runs for — and loses — the race to the White House at least twice. And then runs again.
^"Iran's presidential election: Who the candidates are". BBC News. May 28, 2021. Retrieved August 28, 2021. [Mohsen Rezai] has stood three times as president, and never held public office, having also failed in a bid to be elected to parliament in 2000. He is commonly referred to as a "perennial candidate".
^Parliament of Canada (June 22, 2023). Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9) (Report). Justice Laws Website. Retrieved 10 March 2024. 65 The following persons are not eligible to be a candidate:
^"How to Become a Candidate". elections.ca. Elections Canada. 31 October 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2024. Note: You may only seek election in a single electoral district at a time, but you do not need to reside in that district.
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