Paper Candidate - Canada

Canada

In Canada, paper candidates may exist at both the federal and provincial / territorial levels. As in Great Britain, they most commonly exist to allow the main political parties to field candidates in as many constituencies as possible. At the federal level, some parties do this in order to receive a larger per-vote subsidy, paid regardless of the number of seats actually won.

Alternatively, paper candidates might be used if the party is not seriously contesting the election but must run candidates so it can either get registered or stay registered for some other purpose. An example of this scenario in action is found in Saskatchewan, where the "dormant" Progressive Conservatives continued to run at least ten candidates in the province's general elections until the relevant law was amended, to keep its registration with Elections Saskatchewan (and to avoid losing control of what is believed to be a substantial amount of money).

An extreme version of a paper candidate, is a "Name on Ballot", often referred to by the acronym "nob". Many NoBs will only put up campaign signs, and some do not even do that. In most cases, the only requirement is that the candidate show up at the returning officer's headquarters for a few moments to take an oath and pay the required nomination deposit. In Alberta candidates don't even need to show up to talk to a returning officer, as long as someone on behalf of the party drops off the requisite paperwork and funds.

In many smaller parties, such as the Island New Democrats, a majority of the party's candidates in any given election are NoBs. The term is often worn as a badge of pride in one's loyalty to the party. Island New Democrat, Dr. Bob Perry, who has been a NoB many times in the past, often calls himself "Dr. NoB" at election time.

Paper candidates ("poteau" in Canadian French), particularly of the name-on-ballot variety, can sometimes provide unwanted attention for the candidate's party, particularly if they become viable prospects for election. For example, in the 2011 federal election, a sudden increase in opinion-poll support, particularly in Quebec, for the New Democratic Party – which historically has had a minimal presence in that province – led to greater scrutiny of some of that party's lower-profile Quebec candidates — one of whom, Ruth Ellen Brosseau, won even though she had never been in her riding and spoke its dominant language poorly.

The Progressive Conservative Party also had a number of paper candidates who won election in the party's historic landslide victory in the 1984 election.