List of perennial candidates in Canada

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]

List of perennial candidates in Canada

Candidate	Primary place of residence		Notable Partisan Affiliation		Municipal campaigns	Provincial campaigns	Federal campaigns	Incomplete campaigns ^{[note 1]}	Total
Candidate	Municipality	Province	Notable Partisan Affiliation		Municipal campaigns	Provincial campaigns	Federal campaigns	Incomplete campaigns ^{[note 1]}	Total complete campaigns	Overall total
Enza "Supermodel" Anderson	Toronto	Ontario		Canadian Alliance	3	-	-	1	3	4
Donald Clarke Andrews	Toronto	Ontario		Nationalist Party of Canada	10	-	-	-	10	10
Michael Baldasaro	Hamilton	Ontario		Marijuana Party of Canada	9	1	5	2	15	17
Harry Bradley	Toronto	Ontario		Independent	27	-	-	-	27	27
José Breton	Quebec City	Quebec		Independent	-	5	-	-	5	5
David W. Bylsma	West Lincoln	Ontario		Christian Heritage	2	0	7	-	9	9
Douglas Campbell	Toronto	Ontario		Ontario New Democratic Party	6	2	2	-	10	10
Kevin Clarke	Toronto	Ontario		The Peoples Political Party	11	10	6	-	27	27
Ross Dowson	Toronto	Ontario		League for Socialist Action	9	-	2	-	11	11
Terry Duguid	Winnipeg	Manitoba		Liberal	3	1	6	-	10	10
Jim Enos	Hamilton	Ontario		Christian Heritage	1	4	4	-	9	9
Paul Fromm	Hamilton	Ontario		Canadians' Choice Party	8	2	2	-	12	12
Henri-Georges Grenier	Montreal	Quebec		various	-	-	13	-	13	13
Larry Heather	Calgary	Alberta		Christian Heritage	6	8	13	-	27	27
Ben Kerr	Toronto	Ontario		Independent	7	-	-	-	7	7
Yaqoob Khan	Toronto	Ontario		Independent	7	-	1	-	8	8
Simonne Lizotte	Nicolet	Quebec		Independent	4	2	-	-	6	6
Anne C. McBride	Toronto	Ontario		Independent	5	-	9	-	14	14
Patricia Métivier	Montreal	Quebec		various	7	5	8	1	24	25
Régent Millette	Laval	Quebec		Parti démocratie chrétienne	4	15	7	1	26	27
David Popescu	Sudbury	Ontario		Independent	7	7	6	-	20	20
Naomi Rankin	Edmonton	Alberta		Communist	-	9	10	-	19	19
Bob Smith	Toronto	Ontario		Nationalist Party of Canada	8	1	1	-	10	10
John Turmel	Brantford	Ontario		Pauper	14	49	45	1	108	109
Alex Tyrrell	Montreal	Quebec		Parti Vert	-	10	-	1	10	11
Don Woodstock	Winnipeg	Manitoba		Liberal	2	3	1		6	6
Nathalie Xian Yi Yan	Hamilton	Ontario		Independent	4	2	2	2	8	10

Perennial candidates by region

Atlantic Canada

Quebec

Alex Tyrrell

Level	Election	Office		Votes	Percent	Place	Result
Provincial	2012	Member of the National Assembly for Jacques-Cartier	Green Party of Quebec	1,522	4.54%	3/8	Not elected
Provincial	2013 By-election	Member of the National Assembly for Outremont	Green Party of Quebec	384	3.79%	4/7	Not elected
Provincial	2014	Member of the National Assembly for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce	Green Party of Quebec	1,318	4.52%	5/6	Not elected
Provincial	2016 By-election	Member of the National Assembly for Chicoutimi	Green Party of Quebec	465	2.46%	5/6	Not elected
Provincial	May 2017 By-election	Member of the National Assembly for Gouin	Green Party of Quebec	651	4.57%	5/13	Not elected
Provincial	October 2017 By-election	Member of the National Assembly for Louis-Hébert	Green Party of Quebec	487	2.06%	6/10	Not elected
Provincial	2018	Member of the National Assembly for Verdun	Green Party of Quebec	1,157	3.72%	5/10	Not elected
Provincial	2018 By-election	Member of the National Assembly for Roberval	Green Party of Quebec	80	0.52%	7/7	Not elected
Provincial	2022 By-election	Member of the National Assembly for Marie-Victorin	Green Party of Quebec	142	0.87%	7/12	Not elected
Federal leadership	2022	Leader of the Green Party of Canada	Green Party of Canada	-	-	-	Expelled from party during leadership bid
Provincial	2022	Member of the National Assembly for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce	Green Party of Quebec	956	3.73%	7/9	Not elected

Ontario

Enza "Supermodel" Anderson

Level	Election	Office		Votes	Percent	Place	Result
Municipal	2000	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	13,595	2.25%	3/26	Not elected
Federal Leadership	2002	Leader, Canadian Alliance	Canadian Alliance	n/a	n/a	n/a	Withdrew candidacy
Municipal	2003	Toronto City Councillor, Ward 27 – Toronto Centre	Non-partisan municipal	3,058	15.3%	2/6	Not elected
Municipal	2010	Toronto City Councillor, Ward 27 – Toronto Centre	Non-partisan municipal	1,127	4.23%	7/15	Not elected

Don Andrews

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.

Level	Election	Office		Votes	Percent	Place	Result
Municipal	1972	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,960	1.02%	5/7	Not elected
Municipal	1974	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	5,662	4%	2/11	Not elected
Municipal	1976	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	7,126	5.3%	2/10	Not elected
Municipal	1988	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	5,690	4%	4/9	Not elected
Municipal	1991	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,968	1.01%	4/9	Not elected
Municipal	1994	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	2,839	1.74%	5/11	Not elected
Municipal	1997	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,985	0.26%	5/11	Not elected
Municipal	2003	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,220	0.18%	10/44	Not elected
Municipal	2010	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,032	0.13%	19/40	Not elected
Municipal	2014	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,012	0.1%	7/65	Not elected

Michael Baldasaro

Level	Election	Office		Votes	Percent	Place	Result
Federal	1984	Member of Parliament, Hamilton West	Libertarian	300	0.73%	4/6	Not elected
Municipal	1988	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	7,528	9.12%	2/2	Not elected
Municipal	1991	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	2,507	2.8%	4/4	Not elected
Municipal	1994	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	3,521	4.4%	3/5	Not elected
Federal Leadership	1998	Leader, Progressive Conservative Party	Progressive Conservative Party	n/a	n/a	n/a	Failed to meet requirements
Federal Leadership	2000	Leader, Canadian Alliance	Canadian Alliance	n/a	n/a	n/a	Failed to meet requirements
Municipal	2000	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,637	1.1%	5/12	Not elected
Federal	2000	Member of Parliament, Hamilton East	Marijuana Party	573	1.83%	5/9	Not elected
Municipal	2003	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	2,569	1.85%	6/7	Not elected
Federal	2004	Member of Parliament, Hamilton Centre	Independent	345	.8%	6/7	Not elected
Municipal	2004 By-election	Hamilton City Councillor, Ward 2 – Downtown	Non-partisan municipal	52	1.03%	7/11	Not elected
Municipal	2006	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	4,520	3.61%	4/7	Not elected
Municipal	2010	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	2,892	2.1%	4/15	Not elected
Federal	2011	Member of Parliament, Hamilton Centre	Marijuana Party	780	1.9%	4/5	Not elected
Provincial	2011	Member of Provincial Parliament, Hamilton Centre	Independent	268	.8%	6/10	Not elected
Municipal	2014	Hamilton Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	3,518	2.9%	4/12	Not elected
Federal	2015	Member of Parliament, Hamilton Centre	Marijuana Party	348	0.85%	5/7	Not elected

Dorian Baxter

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.

Douglas Campbell

Douglas Campbell was a teacher and writer from Toronto, Ontario. In 1962, Campbell ran an independent campaign for Parliament in the electoral district of St Paul's, running against future Governor General Roland Michener. Campbell launched three NDP leadership campaigns in the 1970s; he twice sought the position of Ontario NDP leader in the 1970 leadership election and also 1972 when he challenged incumbent Stephen Lewis. He also challenged David Lewis for the federal NDP leadership in 1973 and ran to replace Lewis in the 1975 New Democratic Party leadership election.

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]

Level	Election	Office		Votes	Percent	Place	Result	Notes
Federal	1962	Member of Parliament, St. Paul's	Independent	328	1.2%	5/5	Not elected
Provincial	1970	Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party	Ontario New Democratic Party	21	1.1%	3/3	Not elected
Provincial	1972	Leader of the Ontario New Democratic Party	Ontario New Democratic Party	124	14.1%	2/2	Not elected
Federal	1973	Leader of the New Democratic Party	New Democratic Party	76	9.6%	2/2	Not elected
Municipal	1973	Mississauga Mayor	Non-partisan municipal				Not elected	^[12]
Federal	1975	Leader of the New Democratic Party	New Democratic Party	11	0.7%	5/5	Not elected
Municipal	1988	North York Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	10,290	8.26%	3/4	Not elected
Municipal	2000	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	8,591	1.42%	4/26	Not elected
Municipal	2003	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	2,197	0.32%	6/44	Not elected
Municipal	2006	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	4,183	0.72%	6/38	Not elected
Municipal	2010	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,428	0.18%	13/40	Not elected

Bob Smith

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.

Level	Election	Office		Votes	Percent	Place	Result
Municipal	1972	Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - Riverdale	Non-partisan municipal	247		11/11	Not elected
Municipal	1974	Toronto City Councillor, Ward 4 - Trinity-Bellwoods and Little Italy	Non-partisan municipal	200		7/7	Not elected
Municipal	1976	Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 9 - The Beaches	Non-partisan municipal	864		6/7	Not elected
Federal	1980	Member of Parliament, St. Paul's	Nationalist Party ^{[note 2]}	108	0.3%	6/9	Not elected
Municipal	1980	Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - Riverdale	Non-partisan municipal	1,319		6/9	Not elected
Municipal	1982	Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - Riverdale	Non-partisan municipal	603		6/10	Not elected
Municipal	1985	Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - Riverdale	Non-partisan municipal	935		5/7	Not elected
Provincial	1993 By-election	Member of Provincial Parliament, St. George—St. David		72		8/9	Not elected
Municipal	2003	Toronto City Councillor, Ward 31 - The Beaches	Non-partisan municipal	414	2.5%	4/4	Not elected
Municipal	2006	Toronto Mayor	Non-partisan municipal	1,105	0.19%	20/38	Not elected

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

Alberta

British Columbia

Notes

^ 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".
^ Samuels, Alex; Radcliffe, Mary (June 9, 2021). "Most Candidates Take The Hint After Two Losses. Why Won't Beto O'Rourke and Charlie Crist?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved August 28, 2021. ...both O'Rourke and Crist are risking their political credibility if they run again and lose, as they've already failed to win two consecutive runs for office. Even worse, they could be marked as perennial candidates.
^ Brown, Chris (29 September 2015). "Canada election 2015: Perennial candidates make running and losing a full-time job". CBC British Columbia. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019.
^ 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.
^ Kassam, Ashifa (23 September 2018). "'No regrets': world's biggest election loser runs for 96th time in Canada". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.
^ James, Royson (25 October 1988). "Housing high priority for mayoral candidates". Toronto Star.
^ Porter, Catherine (23 October 2003). "It's more fun on the fringe, candidates prove". Toronto Star.
^ "Toronto voters deserve better". National Post. 6 October 2006.
^ "NOW Magazine - Newsfront in Toronto, OCTOBER 12 - 18, 2006". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2010.
^ Stewart, John (2 March 2024). "Half a century later, 1973 election upset still astounds". Mississauga News. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024.

[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.

[14] 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.

[NPRPerennialCandidate-1] 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.

[2] "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".

[3] Samuels, Alex; Radcliffe, Mary (June 9, 2021). "Most Candidates Take The Hint After Two Losses. Why Won't Beto O'Rourke and Charlie Crist?". FiveThirtyEight. Retrieved August 28, 2021. ...both O'Rourke and Crist are risking their political credibility if they run again and lose, as they've already failed to win two consecutive runs for office. Even worse, they could be marked as perennial candidates.

[4] Brown, Chris (29 September 2015). "Canada election 2015: Perennial candidates make running and losing a full-time job". CBC British Columbia. Archived from the original on 17 January 2019.

[5] 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:

[6] "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.

[7] Kassam, Ashifa (23 September 2018). "'No regrets': world's biggest election loser runs for 96th time in Canada". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 September 2018.

[9] James, Royson (25 October 1988). "Housing high priority for mayoral candidates". Toronto Star.

[10] Porter, Catherine (23 October 2003). "It's more fun on the fringe, candidates prove". Toronto Star.

[11] "Toronto voters deserve better". National Post. 6 October 2006.

[12] "NOW Magazine - Newsfront in Toronto, OCTOBER 12 - 18, 2006". Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2010.

[13] Stewart, John (2 March 2024). "Half a century later, 1973 election upset still astounds". Mississauga News. Archived from the original on 11 March 2024.

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