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.

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.

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. There is no requirement for a candidate to reside in the electoral district where they seek election. 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.

List of perennial candidates in Canada

CandidatePrimary place of residenceNotable Partisan AffiliationMunicipal campaignsProvincial campaignsFederal campaignsIncomplete campaigns Total Municipality Province Total complete campaigns Overall totalEnza "Supermodel" AndersonTorontoOntarioCanadian Alliance3 - -134Donald Clarke AndrewsTorontoOntarioNationalist Party of Canada10 - - -1010Michael BaldasaroHamiltonOntarioMarijuana Party of Canada915 21517Harry BradleyTorontoOntarioIndependent27 - - -2727José BretonQuebec CityQuebecIndependent -5 - -55David W. BylsmaWest LincolnOntarioChristian Heritage207 -99Douglas CampbellTorontoOntarioOntario New Democratic Party622 -1010Kevin ClarkeTorontoOntarioThe Peoples Political Party11106 -2727Ross DowsonTorontoOntarioLeague for Socialist Action9 -2 -1111Donovan EckstromGrande PrairieAlbertaRhinoceros Party - -10 11011Jim EnosHamiltonOntarioChristian Heritage144 -99Paul FrommHamiltonOntarioCanadians' Choice Party822 -1212Henri-Georges GrenierMontrealQuebecvarious - -13 -1313Larry HeatherCalgaryAlbertaChristian Heritage7814 -2929Ben KerrTorontoOntarioIndependent7 - - -77Yaqoob KhanTorontoOntarioIndependent7 -1 -88Simonne LizotteNicoletQuebecIndependent42 - -66Anne C. McBrideTorontoOntarioIndependent5 -9 -1414Patricia MétivierMontrealQuebecvarious75812425Régent MilletteLavalQuebecParti démocratie chrétienne415712627David PopescuSudburyOntarioIndependent776 -2020Naomi RankinEdmontonAlbertaCommunist -910 -1919Bob SmithTorontoOntarioNationalist Party of Canada811 -1010John TurmelBrantfordOntarioPauper1449451108109Alex TyrrellMontrealQuebecParti Vert -10 -11011Don WoodstockWinnipegManitobaLiberal23166Nathalie Xian Yi YanHamiltonOntarioIndependent4222810

Perennial candidates by region

Atlantic Canada

Quebec

Alex Tyrrell

Level Election OfficeParty Votes Percent Place Result NotesProvincial2012Member of the National Assembly for Jacques-CartierGreen Party of Quebec1,5224.54%3/8Provincial2013 By-electionMember of the National Assembly for OutremontGreen Party of Quebec3843.79%4/7Provincial2014Member of the National Assembly for Notre-Dame-de-GrâceGreen Party of Quebec1,3184.52%5/6Provincial2016 By-electionMember of the National Assembly for ChicoutimiGreen Party of Quebec4652.46%5/6ProvincialMay 2017 By-electionMember of the National Assembly for GouinGreen Party of Quebec6514.57%5/13ProvincialOctober 2017 By-electionMember of the National Assembly for Louis-HébertGreen Party of Quebec4872.06%6/10Provincial2018Member of the National Assembly for VerdunGreen Party of Quebec1,1573.72%5/10Provincial2018 By-electionMember of the National Assembly for RobervalGreen Party of Quebec800.52%7/7Provincial2022 By-electionMember of the National Assembly for Marie-VictorinGreen Party of Quebec1420.87%7/12Federal leadership2022Leader of the Green Party of CanadaGreen Party of Canada - - -Provincial2022Member of the National Assembly for Notre-Dame-de-GrâceGreen Party of Quebec9563.73%7/9

Ontario

Enza "Supermodel" Anderson

Level Election OfficeParty Votes Percent Place Result NotesMunicipal2000Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal13,5952.25%3/26Federal Leadership2002Leader, Canadian AllianceCanadian Alliancen/an/an/aMunicipal2003Toronto City Councillor, Ward 27 – Toronto CentreNon-partisan municipal3,05815.3%2/6Municipal2010Toronto City Councillor, Ward 27 – Toronto CentreNon-partisan municipal1,1274.23%7/15

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 OfficeParty Votes Percent Place Result NotesMunicipal1972Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,9601.02%5/7Municipal1974Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal5,6624%2/11Municipal1976Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal7,1265.3%2/10Municipal1988Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal5,6904%4/9Municipal1991Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,9681.01%4/9Municipal1994Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal2,8391.74%5/11Municipal1997Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,9850.26%5/11Municipal2003Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,2200.18%10/44Municipal2010Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,0320.13%19/40Municipal2014Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,0120.1%7/65

Michael Baldasaro

Level Election OfficeParty Votes Percent Place Result NotesFederal1984Member of Parliament, Hamilton WestLibertarian3000.73%4/6Municipal1988Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal7,5289.12%2/2Municipal1991Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal2,5072.8%4/4Municipal1994Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal3,5214.4%3/5Federal Leadership1998Leader, Progressive Conservative PartyProgressive Conservative Partyn/an/an/aFederal Leadership2000Leader, Canadian AllianceCanadian Alliancen/an/an/aMunicipal2000Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal1,6371.1%5/12Federal2000Member of Parliament, Hamilton EastMarijuana Party5731.83%5/9Municipal2003Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal2,5691.85%6/7Federal2004Member of Parliament, Hamilton CentreIndependent345.8%6/7Municipal2004 By-electionHamilton City Councillor, Ward 2 – DowntownNon-partisan municipal521.03%7/11Municipal2006Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal4,5203.61%4/7Municipal2010Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal2,8922.1%4/15Federal2011Member of Parliament, Hamilton CentreMarijuana Party7801.9%4/5Provincial2011Member of Provincial Parliament, Hamilton CentreIndependent268.8%6/10Municipal2014Hamilton MayorNon-partisan municipal3,5182.9%4/12Federal2015Member of Parliament, Hamilton CentreMarijuana Party3480.85%5/7

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."

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. 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. He was quoted in Now Magazine as also saying "If you vote for a capitalist candidate, you're voting to kill children."

Level Election OfficeParty Votes Percent Place Result NotesFederal1962Member of Parliament, St. Paul'sIndependent3281.2%5/5Provincial1970Leader of the Ontario New Democratic PartyOntario New Democratic Party211.1%3/3Provincial1972Leader of the Ontario New Democratic PartyOntario New Democratic Party12414.1%2/2Federal1973Leader of the New Democratic PartyNew Democratic Party769.6%2/2Municipal1973Mississauga MayorNon-partisan municipalFederal1975Leader of the New Democratic PartyNew Democratic Party110.7%5/5Municipal1988North York MayorNon-partisan municipal10,2908.26%3/4Municipal2000Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal8,5911.42%4/26Municipal2003Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal2,1970.32%6/44Municipal2006Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal4,1830.72%6/38Municipal2010Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,4280.18%13/40

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 OfficeParty Votes Percent Place Result NotesMunicipal1972Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - RiverdaleNon-partisan municipal24711/11Municipal1974Toronto City Councillor, Ward 4 - Trinity-Bellwoods and Little ItalyNon-partisan municipal2007/7Municipal1976Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 9 - The BeachesNon-partisan municipal8646/7Federal1980Member of Parliament, St. Paul'sNationalist Party 1080.3%6/9Municipal1980Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - RiverdaleNon-partisan municipal1,3196/9Municipal1982Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - RiverdaleNon-partisan municipal6036/10Municipal1985Toronto Board of Education Trustee, Ward 8 - RiverdaleNon-partisan municipal9355/7Provincial1993 By-electionMember of Provincial Parliament, St. George—St. David728/9Municipal2003Toronto City Councillor, Ward 31 - The BeachesNon-partisan municipal4142.5%4/4Municipal2006Toronto MayorNon-partisan municipal1,1050.19%20/38

Manitoba

Saskatchewan

Alberta

British Columbia

Notes

References