The Canadian election is over, and the results are a letdown.
It was the first time I ever voted from abroad, and the first time I ever voted Liberal.
It was also my first-ever vote for an incumbent member of parliament and, as far as I can remember, the first time I seriously thought “my” candidate stood a chance of winning.
She didn’t win.
Expat voting rights in Canada
For a long time, Canadians living overseas for more than five years had no right to vote. We got enfranchised sometime before the 2021 election, and I had to go to Google Street to look up my last address in Canada because I couldn’t remember it. I filled out the form on the Elections Canada website, applying to vote from abroad in the electoral district where I lived many years ago.
But my “special ballot” reached me too late.
This time around, I somehow managed to get my ballot in time. I wasn’t sure how long it would take to travel all the way back to Ottawa, so I sent it by express mail. I would have liked to research all the candidates in depth, but there wasn’t enough time.
How I voted
Election day was April 28, and the candidate lists for the different electoral ridings weren’t finalized until April 9. After a rushed research process, I ended up voting for Liberal MP Leah Taylor Roy. I made that choice despite my overall disappointment with the Liberal Party’s performance and its lackluster policy platform, because as an individual candidate Leah Taylor Roy had a track record of standing up for animals in parliament and taking their interests seriously.
I still had reservations about supporting her because her efforts fell far short of calling for an end to speciesism, and because there were so many other policy issues I never had a chance to question her about. Anyway, she lost her seat to a Conservative.
However, the Liberals won at the national level. Again. The New Democratic Party and the Green Party both lost ground, and Elizabeth May is now the only Green legislator in the House of Commons.
And I have a new Conservative MP who described himself in a Facebook message as “a huge advocate of animal rights.”
The problem with the Greens
If Elizabeth May had represented the Greens in my electoral riding, there’s a good chance I would have voted for her. She’s taken part in a number of animal-related discussions on YouTube and shown a real commitment to advancing nonhumans’ interests, at least in a few niche areas. And I support the Green Party’s overall economic policy direction.
But the Green candidate in my riding never even answered my email or my Facebook message. When I did a search, I found no evidence of an animal-friendly stance during his time as a municipal councilor. Instead I found red flag after red flag about his character — most infuriating of all, he once voted against a bylaw to stop pet stores from taking homes away from animals in animal shelters.
Couldn’t the Greens have fielded a better candidate?
Slim pickings
My top choice, the Animal Protection Party, had no candidate in my riding. That left the New Democrats, the Conservatives, and some ultraconservative party I’d never heard of.
In the 1990s under then-Premier Bob Rae, Ontario’s provincial New Democratic Party defended all manner of animal abuse, including the use of lost and abandoned family members in harmful medical experiments. I wouldn’t have held that against the 2025 federal NDP candidate if I could have reached out to her and started a conversation, but she was unreachable. No contact information. No social media presence. No apparent track record on animal issues, or any other issues. Supporting her would have meant supporting Bob Rae’s party on nothing more than a hope and a prayer.
I never considered the Conservative candidate or the ultraconservative candidate, for a panoply of reasons, but most importantly because conservative economic policies aren’t animal friendly. Strong social safety nets and protection from abusive employers keep furbabies from losing their homes and empower animal activists to get more active. And conservative policymakers rarely say no to businesses that exploit animals — even when they also pollute the air and water supplies, worsen the climate crisis and erode our civil liberties. Unfortunately, small-c conservatives dominate all the major parties and most are warmongers, backing foreign policy decisions that destroy the lives of humans and nonhumans alike.
Electoral reform in Canada
Former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was no friend of animals, and it’s unclear whether his successor will be any better. As I write this, Canada is in the midst of housing and cost-of-living crises that are pushing countless animals out of their homes and undoubtedly keeping many more from getting adopted.
When I was a younger voter, “none of the above” often felt like the most ethical choice and I considered voting that way again in 2025. But I don’t regret voting for Leah Taylor Roy. I just wish there’d been more options.
Electoral reform, either in the form of proportional representation or ranked-choice voting, could produce a parliament that better represents the people. Some animal advocates say it’s the only way pro-animal voters can ever make our voices heard through the political process. But the Liberals’ pledge to abolish the current winner-take-all electoral system ended up on the trash heap along with many other promises.
Plugging back in
Having lived overseas for such a long time, it’s tempting to unplug from Canadian politics. But after the election, while writing this blog post, I came across a webinar featuring Liz White of the Animal Protection Party, and it got me thinking.
This year the Animal Protection Party had only seven candidates across all of Canada. There was no chance of a Prime Minister Liz White, and no realistic chance of the party winning even one parliamentary seat. Does that mean the campaign was useless? That those seven candidates should have stayed home and watched Netflix?
Or maybe they should have thrown their support behind a bigger and more powerful political force?
Not the point
The webinar makes it clear that winning this election wasn’t the point. The campaign was a chance to talk to voters about animal issues and make it harder for other candidates to ignore those issues. And the 1,299 votes the party won nationwide didn’t go to waste.
Liz White got 250 votes in the Toronto-Danforth riding. That’s 250 people who cared enough about their fellow animals to vote for a dedicated animal rights candidate. For the Liberal candidate who won that seat in parliament, the message is clear: Listen to your constituents! Support pro-animal laws and initiatives! This should be at the top of your priority list, not rock bottom.
One of the questions that came up in the webinar was what to do if you don’t have the option of voting for the Animal Protection Party. Liz had plenty of suggestions, most of them doable even from the other side of the world.
I’ve already said thank you to my outgoing MP for defending animals in parliament. My next step is to contact my new MP and find out exactly what he means when he says he supports animal rights. And start a conversation from there.