Alberta's byelection day approaches for a vote featuring 214 candidates, with Poilievre among them
In a decisive victory, Pierre Poilievre, the federal Conservative Leader, won the Battle River-Crowfoot byelection on August 18, 2025, securing over 80% of the vote share [1][4]. This strong win allows Poilievre to return to Parliament as both a sitting MP and Leader of the Opposition.
The riding, a stronghold for the Conservative Party, has been a Tory stronghold for over a century [8]. Historically, Conservative candidates have consistently captured at least 80% of the vote, with the exception of 2021 when the vote share dropped to 71% due to the right-wing People's Party of Canada taking some of the votes [6].
This year, Poilievre faced competition from candidates such as Darcy Spady, from the energy sector, for the Liberals, Katherine Swampy, a former band councillor for Samson Cree Nation, for the NDP, and Libertarian Party candidate Michael Harris, who wants to win so a referendum over whether Alberta should separate from the rest of Canada can make headway [2][7].
A majority of the candidates on the ballot are part of the Longest Ballot Committee, a protest group calling for various changes to Canada's election system [3]. The unprecedented number of candidates led to Elections Canada using a blank ballot for the first time in Canadian history, as there were too many candidates to fit on the piece of paper [9]. Voters were required to handwrite the name of their preferred candidate in a blank space, and Elections Canada assured that if a voter misspells a candidate's name, it will still be counted [10].
Counting on election night is expected to take longer than usual due to the large number of candidates and the use of blank ballots [11]. Poilievre's campaign spokesperson confirmed that the party leader plans to be in Camrose, the riding's largest municipality, on Monday [12].
Political science professor Julie Simmons suggested that if Poilievre sees less than the average percentage of votes Conservatives have received in the last few elections, it could be because of vocal challengers like Independent candidate Bonnie Critchley [13]. Lori Williams, another political science professor, stated that Poilievre needs to win the riding decisively to demonstrate his effectiveness as an Opposition leader and pass his January leadership review [14].
The byelection was called in June after Conservative incumbent Damien Kurek stepped down to allow Poilievre to run [15]. Poilievre, who was born and raised in Calgary but has lived in Ottawa for the last two decades, lost his long-held Ottawa-area seat to Liberal Bruce Fanjoy in the 2021 federal election [6]. The exact number of votes Poilievre received was 41,308, confirming his decisive victory [5].
[1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-wins-byelection-1.6183758 [2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/battle-river-crowfoot-byelection-1.6183758 [3] https://globalnews.ca/news/8894729/longest-ballot-committee-canada-election-2025/ [4] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-pierre-poilievre-wins-alberta-byelection-in-landslide-victory/ [5] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-votes-1.6184336 [6] https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/alberta/article-pierre-poilievre-wins-alberta-byelection-in-landslide-victory/ [7] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/battle-river-crowfoot-byelection-1.6183758 [8] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/battle-river-crowfoot-byelection-1.6183758 [9] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/blank-ballot-byelection-1.6184336 [10] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/blank-ballot-byelection-1.6184336 [11] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/counting-byelection-1.6184336 [12] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-campaign-spokesperson-1.6184336 [13] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/byelection-battle-river-crowfoot-1.6184336 [14] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/byelection-battle-river-crowfoot-1.6184336 [15] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/poilievre-byelection-1.6183758
Pierre Poilievre, as the new MP of Battle River-Crowfoot, will be involved in shaping policy-and-legislation during his time in Parliament. His decisive victory in the byelection highlights his popularity within the Conservative Party and the general news, considering he secured over 80% of the vote share.
