Pierre Poilievre and the million-dollar byelection

Certainly, democracy has a cost.

And the federal election Canada just went through is one heck of a fiscal hit.

Here’s the cost of a free and fair election, in rather dry and procedural language, courtesy of Elections Canada.

“The revised estimated cost of delivering the 45th federal general election as of March 2025 is $570.0 million or approximately $19.79 for each registered elector. The cost of delivering a general election is typically spread out over three years and includes expenditures incurred well after election day, such as reimbursements for parties and candidates. Most of the cost of delivering the 45th general election will be incurred in fiscal year 2025–2026, given that election day will be on April 28, 2025.”

Money well spent.

But what if a member of Parliament, just elected days ago, decides to resign so his leader can run to gain a seat in the House of Commons?

That’s the situation with Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, who lost his seat in the Ontario riding of Carleton and will be running in a by- election in Battle River-Crowfoot in Alberta, a seat to be vacated by MP Damien Kurek.

The voters spoke on April 28, and having them speak again won’t be cheap.

Federal byelections are an expensive prospect — a pair of byelections, in Toronto Centre and York Centre, on Oct. 26, 2020, cost taxpayers just over $3.2 million.

A Dec. 12, 2022, federal byelection in the federal electoral district of Mississauga-Lakeshore cost $2 million all by itself, though Elections Canada recognized that some costs were higher than average, because costs in that part of Ontario were high.

Needing to have his very own byelection wouldn’t be the only place where Poilievre pushes the envelope on taxpayers paying. House of Commons rules indicate Poilievre is eligible for roughly $150,000 in severance pay after being defeated. It’s not clear if he has to return any of that money if he’s returned to the House after the byelection.

And long before the last federal election campaign, Poilievre was on a virtually constant cross-Canada Axe the Tax road show. He did plenty of talking about the need to cut government costs while at the same time, in one year alone (January to December 2024), billing his House Officers Expense fund for $449,032.05 in travel costs and $67,770.21 in hospitality expenses.

And, right now, while he isn’t an MP, he’s continuing to live rent-free in Stornoway, the residence for the leader of the official Opposition in the House of Commons. He does not have a seat in the House, and probably won’t have a chance to win a byelection and gain that role for months.

To be honest, it’s probably cheaper to keep him there in the manner to which he’s become accustomed than to move him out, and potentially, back in again. And putting the Tories’ interim leader into the residence for a few months has costs, too — as happened with Candice Bergen before Poilievre’s selection as Conservative leader. The residence needed $19,404 in work before her arrival.

But at the same time, letting him stay does appear to take the residents of Battle River-Crowfoot, and their votes, for granted.

Poilievre has argued that it’s wrong for the government to subsidize things like the CBC. He’s vowed to cut government spending.

Yet he expects us to subsidize him to the tune of millions of tax dollars, especially on a byelection that will see somewhere between $1.5 million and $2 million, just to garner him a seat. It is a political expenditure, being done to suit the political ends of the Conservatives.

One thing’s for certain: Poilievre is not in a position to lecture anyone on government thrift.