'Vexatious litigant' John 'The Engineer' chugs along after failing to win world record 106 elections

Not much changed for perennial election candidate John Turmel after a recent recount in Brantford's mayoral election. He ended up with 343 votes, and didn't win by a long shot. But by now, he's used to it.

Turmel, 72, holds the Guinness World Record for most elections contested – he earned it at 90 elections in 2016. As of the March by-election in Hamilton Centre, where he earned 37 votes, he now sits at 106 campaigns, none of which he has won. 

The Brantford resident – who goes by John "The Engineer" Turmel on the ballot, and is often seen in a white hard hat – has campaigned against interest on credit, COVID-19 lockdowns and cannabis prohibition. He first started running for elections in Ottawa in the late 1970s, making a name for himself by showing up at debates where he hadn't been invited and claiming a spot on stage.

"If it's open to the public, I go grab a chair and make them call a cop," explained Turmel in a rambling Zoom interview in mid-May, during which he repeatedly compared himself to Mr. Spock from Star Trek.

"I take a stand and I make them remove me, and that's my standard practice. And a couple of times the audience shouted at the moderators and said, 'let him stay,' and they did. Wow."

Turmel says he's motivated by the duty he swore to uphold when he got his iron ring as an engineering graduate: using his knowledge to try to fix the problems he sees all around. It's a notion that has also propelled him into the courts, launching so many legal cases – and helping others do so as well – that Canada's Federal Court labelled him a "vexatious litigant" last year, a charge that prevents him from "instituting or continuing litigation" and "providing assistance to other litigants."

Turmel owes thousands in unpaid court costs

In addition to launching legal proceedings on his own behalf related to several of his pet causes, Turmel has also helped at least 800 others file proceedings with the court, through templates he creates and shares online. The court's judgment against him, issued in November, says he launched at least 67 legal proceedings since 1980: 20 at the Federal Court, 13 appeals to the Federal Court of Appeal, 18 applications and appeals in the Ontario courts, and 17 applications for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada. 

"The proceedings have concerned a wide range of legal issues, and have been almost entirely unsuccessful," states the decision by Justice Simon Fothergill. "Common reasons for dismissal are that the claims failed to disclose reasonable causes of action, were scandalous, frivolous, vexatious or abuses of process, or were unsupported by evidence."

The decision also notes that Turmel owes thousands of dollars in unpaid court costs.

"Mr. Turmel has paid just one of the many costs orders issued against him, in the amount of $100," the court judgment says. "The remaining accumulated sum of $18,453.04 remains unpaid. An additional 22 cost orders totalling $16,362.82 awarded against his kit users remain unpaid. In social media posts, Mr. Turmel has told kit users that 'It's okay to skip out on costs' and remarked, 'I'd forgotten about all the times I stiffed them on costs.'"

"The Crown said, 'Enough with these templates,'" Turmel told CBC Hamilton, saying he plans to appeal the designation and is currently waiting for an appeal date. "I'm going to say, 'How dare you guys call me, who's a million times sharper than you clowns, a vexatious litigant.

"Well, excuse me, but I'm proud of every one of those moves I put together… I'm proud of them all being righteous, OK?"

Turmel's repeated candidacy has informed Brantford debate format

Turmel says his election campaigns have a similar goal as his court cases – to draw attention to his lifelong crusade to eliminate interest and have the Bank of Canada offer interest-free credit cards. He says his platform for election in Brantford also included reprogramming the city computers to allow barter as a form of currency, and a proposal to get kids to shovel snow in exchange for bus tickets.

"[I asked] 100 students, 'Would you work for bus tickets?' Six bus tickets, that's $12 an hour. Yeah, they all would, except one guy – an idiot."

He says he doesn't canvas, but does show up to debates when he can, whether that's picketing outside because he wasn't invited or claiming a seat for himself. In Brantford's recent election, he says he was happy to be invited to the televised debate, even though he doesn't love the format.

"You… get two minutes to talk about what you want to talk about and the rest of the time you're answering questions about what they want to talk about," he said.

Turmel has a tendency to focus on his pet issues instead of answering moderators' questions, says David Prang, chief executive officer of the Chamber of Commerce of Brantford-Brant, which helps mount the city's televised debates.

"The perception in the community is he takes up time and distracts from issues that are of broader community importance than the issues he's trying to advocate for, like time-banking, and legalization of cannabis," Prang told CBC. "We ask questions that, from a chamber perspective, are business-oriented questions and we don't get back business oriented results."

Prang says Turmel's constant candidacy played a role in shaping the organization's candidate policy for TV debates, which no longer allows members of fringe parties to appear.  

"We want engaged debates that are not just entertaining but also informative. You can't have that when you have multiple candidates [that are focused on single issues]."