Elections Modernization Act

Last updated
Elections Modernization Act
Parliament-Ottawa.jpg
Parliament of Canada
  • An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and other Acts and to make certain consequential amendments
Citation S.C. 2018, c. 31
Enacted by House of Commons of Canada
Enacted by Senate of Canada
Royal assent December 13, 2018
Legislative history
First chamber: House of Commons of Canada
Bill titleBill C-76
Introduced by Minister Karina Gould
First reading April 30, 2018
Second reading October 22, 2018
Third reading October 30, 2018
Second chamber: Senate of Canada
Bill titleBill C-76
First readingOctober 31, 2018
Second readingNovember 7, 2018
Third readingDecember 6, 2018
Status: Current legislation

The Elections Modernization Act (officially An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and other Acts and to make certain consequential amendments) was enacted as Bill C-76 by the 42nd Parliament of Canada under the government of Justin Trudeau as a response to the Fair Elections Act. The bill received royal assent on December 13, 2018, in time for the 2019 Canadian Election. [1] [2]

Contents

History

On February 4, 2014, in response to 38 recommendations by Canada's Chief Electoral Officer, the government of Stephen Harper introduced the Fair Elections Act. The provisions of the bill were opposed by all opposition parties [3] and, in testimony, the Chief Electoral Officer criticized the bill as "[undermining] its stated purpose." [4] Shortly thereafter, Liberal Party leader Justin Trudeau vowed to repeal the act, [5] as did Thomas Mulcair, then leader of the official opposition and of the New Democratic Party. [6]

On October 19, 2015, Justin Trudeau and the Liberal Party were elected to form government in the 42nd Parliament of Canada, and proposed Bill C-33, [7] which they would later substitute with C-76, to replace the Act. [8]

Features

The Act imposed new spending caps on political and third parties in the period directly preceding an election (in addition to the existing limitations in election periods), and required reporting by such third parties on partisan activities, advertising, and election surveying, as well as disclosure on advertising in such pre-election period; it also requires third parties maintain a separate account for aforementioned.

Furthermore, the act also reduced barriers to the political process by:

Finally, the act caps election periods to 50 days; limits the Chief Electoral Officer's delegation authority; eases administrative requirements to hiring of election officers, and towards information sharing within the government regarding non-citizens; allows the voter identification card received by electors prior to an election as valid id for voting; ends signature requirements for advance voting; reorganizes the office of Commissioner of Canada Elections, and gives them the authority to impose fines and file charges, and to subpoena with court approval; strengthens laws regarding foreign influence; and finally, it limits the calling of by-elections close to the general election, and makes rules for privacy against political parties/candidates. [9]

The Act directs Elections Canada to invest more to make participating in elections more accessible to people with disabilities. [10] There are several initiatives, but perhaps the most visible was direction in 18.1 (3) for the Chief Electoral Officer to acquire and evaluate improved voting technology for use by electors with a disability. [11]

Coming-into-force

The bulk of the act came into force on June 13, 2019, but Elections Canada sped up the coming-into-force of several provisions; first on January 19, again on April 1, and finally on May 11 . [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">House of Commons of Canada</span> Lower house of the Canadian Parliament

The House of Commons of Canada is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.

Elections Canada is the non-partisan agency responsible for administering Canadian federal elections and referendums. Elections Canada is an office of the Parliament of Canada, and reports directly to Parliament rather than to the Government of Canada.

<i>Canada Elections Act</i>

The Canada Elections Act is an Act of the Parliament of Canada which regulates the election of members of parliament to the House of Commons of Canada. The Act has been amended many times over Canada's history.

The Canadian electoral system is based on a parliamentary system of government modelled on that of the United Kingdom.

Canada holds elections for legislatures or governments in several jurisdictions: for the federal (national) government, provincial and territorial governments, and municipal governments. Elections are also held for self-governing First Nations and for many other public and private organizations including corporations and trade unions. Municipal elections can also be held for both upper-tier and lower-tier governments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pierre Poilievre</span> Canadian politician (born 1979)

Pierre Marcel Poilievre is a Canadian politician who has served as the leader of the Conservative Party of Canada and the leader of the Official Opposition since 2022. He has been a member of Parliament (MP) since 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections Manitoba</span> Non-partisan agency of the Government of Manitoba

Elections Manitoba is the non-partisan agency of the Government of Manitoba responsible for the conduct and regulation of provincial elections in Manitoba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blaine Calkins</span> Canadian politician

Blaine F. Calkins is a Conservative member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada. He has represented the riding of Red Deer—Lacombe in Alberta since 2015, having previously represented its predecessor, Wetaskiwin, since 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Candice Bergen (politician)</span> Canadian politician (born 1964)

Candice Marie Bergen is a Canadian politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for Portage—Lisgar in Manitoba from 2008 to 2023. She served as the interim leader of the Conservative Party and the leader of the Opposition from February 2, 2022 to September 10, 2022.

Edwin Anthony Holder is a retired Canadian politician who served as the 64th mayor of London from 2018 to 2022. He was previously the federal Member of Parliament for London West from 2008 to 2015 as a member of the Conservative Party.

Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results.

<i>Fair Elections Act</i> Canadian statute regulating elections

The Fair Elections Act was a statute enacted by the Conservative government in the 41st Canadian Parliament. It was introduced on February 4, 2014, by Minister of Democratic Reform Pierre Poilievre, was sent to the Senate with amendments on May 12, 2014, and received Royal Assent on June 19, 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jody Wilson-Raybould</span> Canadian politician

Jody Wilson-Raybould, also known by her initials JWR and by her Kwak’wala name Puglaas, is a Canadian lawyer, author, and former politician who served as the member of Parliament (MP) for the British Columbia (BC) riding of Vancouver Granville from 2015 to 2021. She was initially elected as a member of the Liberal Party – serving as justice minister and attorney general from 2015 to 2019, and briefly as veterans minister and associate national defence minister in 2019 – until she resigned in response to statements from Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the SNC-Lavalin affair. She was later expelled from caucus and continued to sit in Parliament as an Independent and was reelected in 2019, but did not run in 2021. Before entering federal politics, she was a BC provincial Crown prosecutor, a treaty commissioner and regional chief of the BC Assembly of First Nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Prasad Panda</span> Canadian politician

Prasad Panda is a Canadian politician who was elected to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta in a 2015 by-election, replacing former Alberta Premier Jim Prentice, and the 2019 Alberta general elections to represent the electoral district of Calgary-Foothills.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chandra Arya</span> Canadian Liberal politician

Chandrakanth "Chandra" Arya is a Canadian Liberal politician, who represents the riding of Nepean in the House of Commons of Canada since the 2015 federal election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marco Mendicino</span> Canadian politician (born 1973)

Marco Mendicino is a Canadian politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Eglinton—Lawrence in the House of Commons since 2015. He served as the Minister of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship from 2019 to 2021 and the Minister of Public Safety from 2021 to 2023.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">42nd Canadian Parliament</span> Parliamentary term of the Parliament of Canada

The 42nd Canadian Parliament was in session from December 3, 2015, to September 11, 2019, with the membership of its lower chamber, the House of Commons of Canada, having been determined by the results of the 2015 federal election held on October 19, 2015, and thirty new appointees to its Upper House, the Senate of Canada. Parliament officially resumed on December 3, 2015, with the election of a new Speaker, Geoff Regan, followed by a Speech from the Throne the following day. The Speaker of the Senate of Canada was George Furey, who was appointed Speaker of the Canadian Senate on the advice of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to replace Leo Housakos, on December 3, 2015. On September 11, 2019, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau advised Governor General Julie Payette to dissolve Parliament and issue the writ of election, leading to a 5-week election campaign period for the 2019 federal election. Significant legislation adopted during the 42nd Parliament included the Cannabis Act, the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement Implementation Act, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Implementation Act, the Canada Infrastructure Bank Act, the Impact Assessment Act and Canadian Energy Regulator Act, as well as the legalizing of medical assistance in dying and adding gender identity and expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bardish Chagger</span> Canadian politician (born 1980)

Bardish Chagger is a Canadian politician who served as a Cabinet minister from 2015 to 2021. A member of the Liberal Party, Chagger has sat in the House of Commons as the Member of Parliament for the riding of Waterloo since the 2015 federal election.

Several policies regarding interior and domestic issues in Canada were planned and adopted by the Canadian Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, following the October 19, 2015 election of the Liberal Party to a majority of seats in the House of Commons, such as social and environmental policies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">45th Canadian federal election</span> Next general election in Canada

The 45th Canadian federal election will take place on or before October 20, 2025, to elect members of the House of Commons to the 45th Canadian Parliament. The date of the vote is determined by the fixed-date provisions of the Canada Elections Act, which requires federal elections to be held on the third Monday in October in the fourth calendar year after the polling day of the previous election, though a current government bill proposes to postpone the date to October 27, 2025 to avoid conflicting with Diwali. In addition to the statutory fixed election date provisions, Canada has a constitutional requirement specified in both section 50 of the Constitution Act, 1867 and section 4 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms that elections for the House of Commons must be held no more than five years after the preceding election.

References

  1. Dec 14, Marco Vigliotti Published on; 2018 4:30pm. "Elections bill gets Royal Assent after fractious path through Parliament". iPolitics. Retrieved 2019-03-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  2. "Election Reform Bill Passed Just In Time To Apply To 2019 Vote". HuffPost Canada. 2018-12-11. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  3. "Elections watchdog: Cap campaigns, seek broad support for changing laws - National | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  4. "Evidence - PROC (41-2) - No. 20 - House of Commons of Canada". www.ourcommons.ca. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  5. "Trudeau says he'll repeal Fair Elections Act if elected PM" . Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  6. "NDP promises more powers for Elections Canada, repeal of Tories' voting laws - National | Globalnews.ca". globalnews.ca. 2015-10-02. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  7. "The Fair Elections Act is no more! Rejoice!" . Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  8. "Federal government introduces election-reform bill ahead of 2019 vote" . Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  9. Branch, Legislative Services (2019-02-01). "Consolidated federal laws of canada, Elections Modernization Act". laws-lois.justice.gc.ca. Retrieved 2019-03-15.
  10. "National Press Theatre - Remarks on the introduction of Bill C-76: the Elections Modernization Act".
  11. "Justice Laws Website: Elections Modernization Act".
  12. Canada, Elections. "Bringing Bill C-76 into Force". www.elections.ca. Retrieved 2019-03-15.