Any Canadian citizen who is 18 years of age on the day of the election may stand for election. It is not necessary to be registered nor even to reside in the riding chosen; but you can only run in one riding at a time.
The following information is for quick reference. Full details and the necessary forms to comply with all requirements of the Act are available from the returning officer in each riding immediately upon the calling of an election, known in the jargon of the trade as the "dropping of the writ".
At the time of registration with the returning officer, a candidate needs the following:
A $1,000 deposit; returnable after the election when all papers are submitted properly, by the official agent.
An official agent who is responsible to receive and disperse all monies and to account for the same; and submit the required reports after the election; which triggers the return of the deposit.
An official auditor (different person from the agent)
The witnessed signatures of 100 people who are electors entitled to vote in the riding. It is highly recommended that a surplus, say 150, signatures be obtained in case the returning officer is unable to certify some of them.
This is the heart of the impediments placed in your path by Elections Canada, at the instigation of the prime-minister-of-the-day, obviously intended to discourage you. There's lots of paperwork, forms and reports, but if you can read and follow instructions, then there's really nothing insurmountable.
One more thing: If you wish to have your party's name shown on the ballot you must be approved by our party leader, Jean-Serge Brisson. Contact him directly to find out what he needs from you.
Now THE HARD PART
There is one thing you must do to give yourself a good chance for success. And two things that are really hard but pay off with big dividends.
You must present yourself to individual electors.
If you plan and schedule your time and go out there and knock on doors, all the other things you need to do will look after themselves; they flow inescapably from the door-knocking. As you meet and listen to the voters you will learn what's hot and what's not and what works and what doesn't. You will be constantly improving the whole array of your presentation.
There won't ever be enough time to do all the things that you want to do, but never neglect the door-knocking.
And when you get started meeting and talking to people there are two skills that you should never stop working on to improve:
You must become an effective listener
You must become a practiced and skillful writer of "scripts"
So, make plans to go out knocking on doors. It is usually better to do some actual door-knocking before you load up on too much material. Your ideas about what you need tend to change as you gain experience.
You will certainly do better with a nice name tag, and at least a business card or a brochure. You will quickly learn how long it takes to do so many doors; so then you can plan your campaign. There will be 60,000 doors, more or less. Do the math.
Start as early as you can. The more people you speak with, the better the results. Start now. If it seems scary at first, start with one door. Go out, knock till you find someone at home, then listen and talk. Go away and think about what happened.
Go back tomorrow and do 10 more, then think about it. By now you will have a good idea of the kind of literature you want to have with you, and what you want to say.
Write your "scripts". You should have written scripts for every kind or encounter, at the door, on the phone and on the street.
Write, edit, and rehearse until you've got it exactly the way you want it. You will know because it will flow easily. You will be saying what you want to say and there will be a good conversation. What you say is critical: selling is not talking, it is saying the words that work.
It has actually been proven more effective to say the right things as though you were a mindless dummy than to do a sparkling ad-lib with verbiage that subliminally defeats your message. But don't worry... two or three times through the script and it rolls off the tongue as though you had just thought of it.
Trust me on this. I've been through it many times.
When you find people to help you in all of this, review your scripts with them. Since you have decided to put in the time, why not be as effective as possible? Two hours at 50% is better than 10 hours at 10%.
There is no record of anyone seriously harming themselves by running as a candidate for political office. Most find it exciting, rewarding and even addictive.
A few thoughts on presentation. Of course, how you present yourself is entirely your business, but here are some ideas to help get the creative juices flowing.
Most of the people you will meet and talk with are not politically active. They either don't see any relevance to their daily life, or they believe that what they think doesn't really matter. This means that there is essentially nothing you can tell them that they will hear, let alone remember. But everyone likes to be heard, to be really listened to.
As the saying goes, you have two ears and one mouth. Use them in that proportion. It is unlikely that they will remember what you said, but very likely that they will remember that you listened.
So they might just possibly remember a respectful person who asked for their views and listened to their answers. It is such a rare event that it sticks in the mind. It is such a rarity that they might even mention it to other people. And that is how you will get a vote.
As Wayne Gretzsky once said, "You miss 100% of the shots you never take", so keep shooting!
Dave Kempster
President, Libertarian Party of Canada