Question Period Note: Recommendations from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada

• Every election provides important insight into the health of our democracy.
• That is why we welcome the Chief Electoral Officer’s recommendations report on the 43rd and 44th general elections, which was tabled yesterday.
• The report puts forward a number of important proposals that the Chief Electoral Officer believes will improve the administration of federal elections.
• It contains recommendations in such areas as advertising, guarding against threats to our federal electoral process and improving accessibility for electors.
• Accompanying the report are proposals from the Commissioner of Canada Elections that seek to strengthen the enforcement and compliance regime.
• These are important areas for consideration and we appreciate the tireless work of the Chief Electoral Officer and the Commissioner of Canada Elections.
• Our government is carefully examining these recommendations to ensure that federal elections continue to be protected from disinformation, and support the principles of transparency, fairness and participation in elections.

• On June 7, 2022, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) tabled “Meeting New Challenges: Recommendations from the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada (CEO) following the 43rd and 44th General Elections”, which proposes a series of legislative changes to the Canada Elections Act (CEA) on wide range of issues.

• Accompanying the CEO’s report is a separate report by the Commissioner of Canada Elections (CCE), which proposes legislative amendments to improve the enforcement and compliance of the CEA.

• The CEO’s report proposes 32 recommendations to the CEA in support of three aspects of Canada’s electoral democracy: transparency, accessibility and resiliency. Notable recommendations propose to:

o Create a new prohibition on the spread of mis/disinformation that seeks to disrupt an election or undermine its legitimacy

o Provide electors the ability to apply to a court and seek to deny registration to, or deregister, parties whose primary purpose is the dissemination of hatred

o Apply PIPEDA’s privacy principles to political parties, with oversight from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner, or, at a minimum, ensure that the privacy policies of political parties provide electors the right to opt out of receiving electoral communications

o Expand the Voter Contact Registry to regulate text messages and amend the definition of online platform to extend beyond only those that sell ad space

o Subject cryptocurrencies to regulation under the CEA, which would require the receipting and reporting of all contributions of cryptocurrency received by federal political entities

o Apply a new harmonized tagline requirement to all electoral communications, not just advertising, and enshrine the TBS directive on government advertising in the CEA

o Clarify the definition of issue-based communications, increase the third party registration threshold and limit the use of a third party’s own funds

o Set a minimum election period of 44 days for a non-fixed date election, enable electors to vote in person even after applying to vote by special ballot, and authorize the counting of special ballots marked with a political party name rather than a candidate name

o Set out a process to determine an “inclusive election date” whereby EC would be required to consult with religious and cultural communities regarding an appropriate date for polling day one year in advance of the election period

• The CCE’s report includes 22 recommendations, which propose, among other things, the expansion of the existing Administrative Monetary Penalties (AMPs) regime to other portions of the CEA.

• The other provisions that the CCE is recommending be captured through this expansion are ones in which the CCE receives a number of questions/complaints during each election (e.g., from workers concerned their employer denied their right for 3 consecutive hours to vote on polling day), but where the CCE is of the view that such potential infractions would be better handled through AMPs rather than existing means (i.e., criminal proceedings).

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