This article in the National Post says Canada has 338 House of Commons districts, and almost 1,800 candidates are on the ballot. That works out to 5.3 candidates per district. Four parties have a candidate in all or virtually all districts.

By comparison, in the United States in November 2014, approximately half the districts only had two or fewer candidates on the ballot. Even the Democratic Party didn’t have candidates in 36 of the 435 districts; even the Republicans didn’t have candidates in 41 of the districts.

Ballot access in Canada is equal for every candidate. Every candidate submits 100 signatures and pays a filing fee of $1,000 Canadian dollars. For ballot access purposes, there is no such thing as a ballot-qualified party.

On September 30, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory signed HB 373, the bill that moves the non-presidential primary from May to March, and moves the presidential primary from February to March.

As a result, candidates for partisan office (other than President) in the Republican, Democratic, and Libertarian Parties have a December 1 deadline to pay their filing fees and file a declaration of candidacy for a party primary. Thanks to FrontloadingHQ for this news.

The National Post, a leading daily newspaper published in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has this article about seven minor parties active in the October 2015 election. They include the Green Party, the Libertarian Party, and the Pirate Party, organizations that also exist in the U.S. It is interesting to compare the platforms of those Canadian parties with the platforms of their counterparts in the U.S.