Even though the NDP has had more trouble than other parties with some of its candidates, it managed to get on the ballot in each of Canada's 308 ridings by the Elections Canada cutoff date of Sept. 22. In fact, it was the only party to do that.
Parties will scramble to get any warm body on the ballot by that cutoff date because Elections Canada sets the national spending limits based on the number of voters in each riding that the party has fielded a candidate -- by that cutoff date of Sept. 22.
So anyone dropping off after that date does not affect a party's spending limit.
So, no matter what happens after Sept. 22 to candidates who end up bailing for smoking dope, running around naked, or saying mean things on the Internet about others, here's the number of ridings each party is officially contesting on Oct. 14:

Party	Contested Ridings
New Democratic Party	308
Conservative Party of Canada	307
Liberal Party of Canada	307
Green Party of Canada	303
Bloc Québécois	75
Independent	67
Christian Heritage Party of Canada	59
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada	59
Libertarian Party of Canada	26
Communist Party of Canada	24
Canadian Action Party	20
Progressive Canadian Party	10
Marijuana Party	8
neorhino.ca	7
First Peoples National Party of Canada	6
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada	4
No Affiliation	4
Newfoundland and Labrador First Party	3
People's Political Power Party of Canada	2
Western Block Party	1
Work Less Party	1

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