Carleton

Carleton is a large, predominantly rural riding that wraps around the southern perimeter of the City of Ottawa, stretching from Constance Bay and Fitzroy Harbour in the west through Stittsville and the Kanata fringe, south to Metcalfe and Osgoode, and east toward the Prescott-Russell border. Under the 2022 redistribution, the riding gained additional rural territory west of Highway 417 from the former Kanata—Carleton riding while losing some of its more urban polls. The riding's mix of outer suburban subdivisions, small-town main streets, and active agricultural land gives it a character distinct from Ottawa's urban core. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre had held the seat and its predecessor, Nepean—Carleton, since first being elected at age 25 in 2004.

Candidates

Bruce Fanjoy (Liberal) is a former marketing executive who worked as director of marketing at Deloitte before becoming a stay-at-home father. Born in Toronto and raised in New Brunswick, Fanjoy holds a Bachelor of Commerce from Dalhousie University and an MBA from Saint Mary's University. He began canvassing the riding in 2023 and was officially nominated as the Liberal candidate in June 2024, running a grassroots campaign focused on community engagement.

Pierre Poilievre (Conservative) has served as Leader of the Conservative Party of Canada since 2022 and Leader of the Official Opposition. First elected in 2004, he won seven consecutive elections in the riding. Poilievre served in several shadow and junior cabinet roles under Stephen Harper, including as Minister of Employment and Social Development and Minister of Democratic Reform. His tenure as Conservative leader was defined by his advocacy against the carbon tax and his messaging on affordability and housing.

Beth Prokaska (NDP) is a retired teacher who spent 25 years teaching music and supporting families across the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. She is known for her community advocacy, mentoring new teachers and organizing fundraisers for the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario and programs such as Christie Lake Kids.

Mark Watson (Green Party) is a bilingual entrepreneur who has founded multiple businesses in Ottawa since 2000. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and Economics and an International MBA in IT, and operates a small acreage in Dunrobin. His campaign emphasized sustainability and community-driven economic solutions.

Karen Bourdeau (United Party of Canada) ran on the UP platform.

Shawn MacEachern (Canadian Future Party) ran on the Canadian Future Party platform.

About the Riding

Carleton attracted national and international media attention in 2025 because of the unprecedented "Longest Ballot" protest. The Longest Ballot Committee, an advocacy group pushing for an independent electoral reform process, flooded the riding with candidates to highlight what it called the conflict of interest of having politicians set their own election rules. In total, 91 candidates appeared on the ballot—tying the Canadian record—with the committee contributing 85 of them. The resulting ballot stretched nearly a metre in length, creating logistical challenges for Elections Canada and drawing widespread commentary about the state of the first-past-the-post system.

Beyond the spectacle, the riding's political dynamics had shifted substantially. The 2022 redistribution made the seat more rural by swapping some of its suburban polls for agricultural territory, but Poilievre's long incumbency and national profile as Conservative leader made it the marquee race of the election. Fanjoy ran a persistent ground campaign, knocking on doors for more than a year before the writ dropped, and drew a sharp contrast between his local focus and Poilievre's national ambitions.

The result was a historic upset. Fanjoy defeated Poilievre by more than 4,300 votes, ending a twenty-year hold on the riding. Fanjoy credited the outcome in part to the US-Canada trade tensions and the broader political climate, as the Liberal campaign drew parallels between Poilievre's political style and that of US President Donald Trump. Despite the massive number of independent candidates on the ballot, their combined vote share was minimal—most received votes in the single digits—and the outcome was driven by a genuine shift in voter sentiment in what had long been considered a safe Conservative stronghold.