At a recent local nominating meeting for the Greens weeks back, in the Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound federal district, an audience member raised their hand to propose an idea that shook the room— maybe the party shouldn’t run a candidate at all this time.
During the 2025 federal election, the New Democrats secured only seven seats and the Greens took just one, leading to both party leader Jagmeet Singh and co-leader Jonathon Pednealt to officially step down.
The NDP and the Greens are smaller rivals, yes, but when you look at the bigger picture, they are still major players in Canada’s political ecosystem. According to Elections Canada, 16 registered parties were on the ballot this election with 1,959 candidates confirmed.
Third-party candidates like the Animal Protection Party or the Marxist-Leninist Party ran in Toronto Centre. They currently hold no seats in Parliament and they don’t have widespread candidates in every riding. So what do they gain from running?
Dave Meslin is the president of the riding association for the Green Party, he says, the more parties you have in Parliament, the more accurately it reflects the diversity of the nation.
Dave Meslin has been a social and political entrepreneur, involved in grassroots movements, volunteer groups and mid-sized charities, for over 20 years. He’s worked as an Executive Assistant at both Queen’s Park and City Hall and is the author of the Teardown: Rebuilding Democracy from the Ground Up. He joins Met Radio to tell us why candidates run when they have no shot in winning.
