How old must Canadian citizens be to run in a federal election?

Discover Canada records this in one direct sentence. The guide writes: Canadian citizens who are 18 years old or older may run in a federal election. The people who run for office are called candidates. There can be many candidates in an electoral district. The age the test wants is therefore 18 years old.

The same age covers voting and candidacy. Discover Canada uses the same threshold — 18 — both for voting (the National Register of Electors covers "Canadian citizens 18 years of age or older") and for running as a federal candidate. So at 18 a Canadian citizen gains both the right to vote AND the right to run for office, with no separate higher age threshold for candidacy.

Candidates compete in electoral districts. Discover Canada writes: "There can be many candidates in an electoral district. The people in each electoral district vote for the candidate and political party of their choice. The candidate who receives the most votes becomes the MP for that electoral district." So a successful candidate becomes the Member of Parliament (MP) for their electoral district. Canada has 308 federal electoral districts, each represented by one MP.

The 18-and-over rule is universal in Canadian voting and candidacy. Discover Canada writes elsewhere that "every citizen over the age of 18 may vote." So the same age threshold applies to voting in federal, provincial or territorial, and local elections — and to running as a candidate at the federal level. Canadian citizenship is a prerequisite alongside reaching the age of 18: only Canadian citizens who are 18 years old or older can run for federal office.

Running for office is a meaningful citizenship right. Discover Canada's broader citizenship-rights framework includes "voting in elections" — and running for office is its companion right. Together with voting, candidacy is part of how Canadians take active responsibility in the democratic system. The 18-and-over threshold means that millions of working-age Canadians are eligible to stand for federal office at any election.

The question is testing whether new citizens know the age at which Canadians can run in a federal election. Discover Canada commits to one age: 18 years old. The right test answer matches that.

The wrong answer choices each pick a different age. 16 is below the federal voting age. 21 and 25 are above the threshold — there is no higher age requirement for candidacy in Discover Canada. Only 18 — the same age threshold as for voting — matches.