Bill C-83

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First Reading

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Time	(4) A reference to a time of day in this Act is a reference to local time.
	PART 1
	ELECTORAL RIGHTS
Persons qualified as electors	3. Every person who is a Canadian citizen and is 18 years of age or older on polling day is qualified as an elector.
Disentitle- ment from voting	4. The following persons are not entitled to vote at an election:
	(a) the Chief Electoral Officer;
	(b) the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer; and
	(c) every person who is imprisoned in a correctional institution serving a sentence of two years or more.
Prohibition	5. No person may
	(a) vote or attempt to vote at an election knowing that they are not qualified as an elector under section 3 or not entitled to vote under section 4; or
	(b) induce another person to vote at an election knowing that the other person is not qualified as an elector under section 3 or not entitled to vote under section 4.
Persons entitled to vote	6. Subject to this Act, every person who is qualified as an elector is entitled to have his or her name included in the list of electors for the polling division in which he or she is ordinarily resident and to vote at the polling station for that polling division.
Only one vote	7. No elector who has voted at an election may request a second ballot at that election.
Place of ordinary residence	8. (1) The place of ordinary residence of a person is the place that has always been, or that has been adopted as, his or her dwelling place, and to which the person intends to return when away from it.
One place of residence only	(2) A person can have only one place of ordinary residence and it cannot be lost until another is gained.
Temporary absence	(3) Temporary absence from a place of ordinary residence does not cause a loss or change of place of ordinary residence.
Place of employment	(4) If a person usually sleeps in one place and has their meals or is employed in another place, their place of ordinary residence is where they sleep.
Temporary residence	(5) Temporary residential quarters are considered to be a person's place of ordinary residence only if the person has no other place that they consider to be their residence.
Temporary residential quarters	(6) A shelter, hostel or similar institution that provides food, lodging or other social services to a person who has no dwelling place is that person's place of ordinary residence.
Interpreta- tion of ordinary residence	9. If the rules set out in section 8 are not sufficient to determine the place of ordinary residence, it shall be determined by the appropriate election officer by reference to all the facts of the case.
Members and persons living with members	10. Each candidate at a general election who, on the day before the dissolution of Parliament immediately before the election, was a member, and any elector living with the candidate on that day who would move, or has moved, with the candidate to continue to live with the candidate, is entitled to have his or her name entered on the list of electors for, and to vote at the polling station that is established for, the polling division in which is located
	(a) the place of ordinary residence of the former member;
	(b) the place of temporary residence of the former member in the electoral district in which the former member is a candidate;
	(c) the office of the returning officer for the electoral district in which the former member is a candidate; or
	(d) the place in Ottawa or in the area surrounding Ottawa where the former member resides for the purpose of carrying out parliamentary duties.
Part 11	11. Any of the following persons may vote in accordance with Part 11:
	(a) a Canadian Forces elector;
	(b) an elector who is an employee in the public service of Canada or of a province and who is posted outside Canada;
	(c) a Canadian citizen who is employed by an international organization of which Canada is a member and to which Canada contributes and who is posted outside Canada;
	(d) a person who has been absent from Canada for less than five consecutive years and who intends to return to Canada as a resident;
	(e) an incarcerated elector within the meaning of that Part; and
	(f) any other elector in Canada who wishes to vote in accordance with that Part.
Residence at by-election	12. (1) No elector is entitled to vote at a by-election unless his or her place of ordinary residence on polling day is situated in the same electoral district that includes the polling division in which was situated the elector's place of ordinary residence at the beginning of the revision period established by section 96.
Address change within electoral district	(2) For the purpose of a by-election only and despite anything in this Act, an elector who, during the period between the beginning of the revision period and ending on polling day, has changed his or her place of ordinary residence from one polling division to another polling division in the same electoral district may register their name on the list of electors in the new polling division.
	PART 2
	CHIEF ELECTORAL OFFICER AND STAFF
	Chief Electoral Officer
Appointment of Chief Electoral Officer	13. (1) There shall be a Chief Electoral Officer who shall be appointed by resolution of the House of Commons to hold office during good behaviour. He or she may be removed for cause by the Governor General on address of the Senate and House of Commons.
Term of office	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer ceases to hold office on reaching 65 years of age.
Appointment of substitute	14. (1) In case of the death, incapacity or negligence of the Chief Electoral Officer while Parliament is not sitting, a substitute Chief Electoral Officer shall, on the application of the Minister, be appointed by order of the Chief Justice of Canada or, in the absence of the Chief Justice of Canada, by the senior judge of the Supreme Court of Canada then present in Ottawa.
Tenure of office of substitute	(2) A substitute Chief Electoral Officer shall act as Chief Electoral Officer until 15 days after the beginning of the next session of Parliament unless the Chief Justice of Canada or the judge who made the order to appoint the substitute Chief Electoral Officer sooner directs that the order be revoked.
Absence of Chief Justice	(3) In the absence of both the Chief Justice of Canada and of the judge who made the order to appoint the substitute Chief Electoral Officer, the order may be revoked by any other judge of the Supreme Court of Canada.
Remunera- tion of substitute	(4) The substitute Chief Electoral Officer is entitled to be paid the remuneration fixed by the Governor in Council.
Rank, powers and duties	15. (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall rank as and have all the powers of a deputy head of a department, shall perform the duties of the office on a full-time basis and shall not hold any other office under Her Majesty or engage in any other employment.
Salary and expenses of Chief Electoral Officer	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer shall be paid a salary equal to the salary of a judge of the Federal Court, other than the Chief Justice or the Associate Chief Justice of that Court, and is entitled to be paid reasonable travel and living expenses while absent from his or her ordinary place of residence in the course of his or her duties.
Superannua- tion and compensation	(3) The Chief Electoral Officer is deemed to be employed in the Public Service for the purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act and to be employed in the public service of Canada for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and any regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act.
Communica- tion with Governor in Council	(4) The Chief Electoral Officer shall communicate with the Governor in Council through the Minister for the purposes of this Act.
Powers and duties of Chief Electoral Officer	16. The Chief Electoral Officer shall
	(a) exercise general direction and supervision over the conduct of elections;
	(b) ensure that all election officers act with fairness and impartiality and in compliance with this Act;
	(c) issue to election officers the instructions that the Chief Electoral Officer considers necessary for the administration of this Act; and
	(d) exercise the powers and perform the duties and functions that are necessary for the administration of this Act.
Power to adapt Act	17. (1) During an election period, if an emergency, an unusual or unforeseen circumstance or an error makes it necessary, the Chief Electoral Officer may adapt any provision of this Act and, in particular, may extend the time for doing any act, subject to subsection (2), or increase the number of election officers or polling stations.
Limitation - power to adapt	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer shall not extend the hours within which a returning officer may receive a nomination paper or the voting hours at an advance polling station or, subject to subsection (3), the voting hours on polling day.
Emergency - extending voting hours	(3) If voting at a polling station is interrupted on polling day by an emergency and the Chief Electoral Officer is satisfied that, if the voting hours at the polling station are not extended, a substantial number of electors will not be able to vote, the Chief Electoral officer may extend the voting hours at the polling station, as long as it does not in any case
	(a) close later than midnight on polling day; or
	(b) remain open during polling day for a total of more than 12 hours.
Public education and information programs	18. (1) The Chief Electoral Officer may implement public education and information programs to make the electoral process better known to the public, particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.
Communica- tion with the public	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer may, using any media or other means that he or she considers appropriate, provide the public, both inside and outside Canada, with information relating to Canada's electoral process, the democratic right to vote and how to be a candidate.
Information outside Canada	(3) The Chief Electoral Officer may establish programs to disseminate information outside Canada concerning how to vote under Part 11.
	Assistant Chief Electoral Officer and Staff
Staff	19. (1) The staff of the Chief Electoral Officer shall consist of an officer known as the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer, appointed by the Governor in Council, and any other officers, clerks and employees that may be required, who shall be appointed in accordance with the Public Service Employment Act.
Superannua- tion and compensation	(2) The Assistant Chief Electoral Officer is deemed to be a person employed in the Public Service for the purposes of the Public Service Superannuation Act and to be employed in the public service of Canada for the purposes of the Government Employees Compensation Act and any regulations made under section 9 of the Aeronautics Act.
Casual and temporary staff	20. Any additional officers, clerks and employees that the Chief Electoral Officer considers necessary for his or her exercise of powers, and discharge of duties, under this Act related to the preparation for, and the conduct of, an election may be employed, in the manner authorized by law, on a casual or temporary basis.
Delegation by Chief Electoral Officer	21. The Chief Electoral Officer may authorize the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer or any other officer on his or her staff to perform any of the Chief Electoral Officer's functions under this Act.
	PART 3
	ELECTION OFFICERS
	General
Election officers	22. (1) The following persons are election officers:
	(a) returning officers appointed under subsection 24(1);
	(b) assistant returning officers appointed under subsection 26(1) or 28(5) and additional assistant returning officers appointed under subsection 30(1);
	(c) persons authorized by a returning officer under section 27 to perform duties under this Act;
	(d) revising agents appointed under paragraph 32(a);
	(e) deputy returning officers appointed under paragraphs 32(b) and (c) and subsection 273(1);
	(f) poll clerks appointed under paragraphs 32(b) and (c) and subsection 273(1);
	(g) registration officers appointed under paragraph 32(d);
	(h) information officers appointed under paragraph 124(1)(a);
	(i) persons responsible for maintaining order at a central polling place appointed under paragraph 124(1)(b);
	(j) central poll supervisors appointed under subsection 124(2);
	(k) persons appointed under subsection 290(2) to collect ballot boxes;
	(l) the special voting rules administrator appointed under section 181;
	(m) special ballot officers appointed under subsection 183(1) or section 184;
	(n) liaison officers for correctional institutions appointed under subsection 248(1); and
	(o) deputy returning officers and poll clerks for correctional institutions appointed under subsection 253(1).
Election officers - exclusions	(2) For greater certainty, a representative of a candidate who is present at a polling station is not an election officer.
Who shall not be appointed election officers	(3) The following persons shall not be appointed as an election officer:
	(a) a minister of the Crown or a member of the executive council of a province;
	(b) a member of the Senate or the House of Commons;
	(c) a member of the legislature of a province, the Council of the Yukon Territory, the Council of the Northwest Territories or the Legislative Assembly of Nunavut;
	(d) a judge or deputy judge of any superior court or any bankruptcy or insolvency court and, in the Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories, a judge of the Territorial Court;