Failure of Judge to Conduct Recount

Failure of judge to act

311. (1) If a judge does not comply with the provisions of sections 300 to 309, an aggrieved party may, within eight days after the failure to comply, make application for an order under subsection (3)

    (a) in the Province of Ontario, to a judge of the Superior Court of Justice;

    (b) in the Province of Quebec, New Brunswick or Alberta, the Yukon Territory, the Northwest Territories or Nunavut, to a judge of the Court of Appeal of the Province or Territory;

    (c) in the Province of Nova Scotia or British Columbia, to a judge of the Supreme Court of the Province;

    (d) in the Province of Manitoba or Saskatchewan, to a judge of the Court of Queen's Bench for the Province; and

    (e) in the Province of Prince Edward Island or Newfoundland, to a judge of the trial division of the Supreme Court of the Province.

Application on affidavit

(2) An application under subsection (1) may be made on affidavit, which need not be entitled in any matter or cause, that sets out the facts relating to the failure to comply.

Order of judge

(3) The judge to whom an application is made under subsection (1) shall, if it appears that there was a failure to comply, make an order

    (a) fixing the time, within the following eight days, and place to hear the application;

    (b) directing the attendance of all parties interested at that time and place; and

    (c) giving directions for the service of the order, and of any affidavit on which the order was granted, on the judge alleged to have failed to comply and on any other interested party.

Affidavits may be filed in reply

(4) The judge complained of and any interested party may file in the office of the clerk, registrar or prothonotary of the court of the judge to whom the application is made affidavits in reply to those filed by the applicant and shall provide the applicant with copies of them on demand.

Order of court after hearing

312. (1) After hearing the judge complained of and any other parties, the judge to whom the application was made or another judge of the same court

    (a) shall make an order dismissing the application or ordering the judge in default to comply with the requirements of this Act in respect of the recount; and

    (b) may make an order with respect to costs.

Judge to obey order

(2) A judge found to be in default shall without delay comply with an order made under subsection (1).

Costs

(3) Remedies for the recovery of costs awarded under paragraph (1)(b) are the same as for costs in ordinary cases in the same court.

PART 15

RETURN TO THE WRIT

Return of elected candidate

313. (1) The returning officer, without delay after the sixth day that follows the completion of the validation of results or, if there is a recount, without delay after receiving the certificate referred to in section 308, shall declare elected the candidate who obtained the largest number of votes by completing the return to the writ in the prescribed form on the back of the writ.

Equality of votes

(2) If there is an equality of votes between the candidates with the largest number of votes, the returning officer shall indicate that on the return to the writ.

Sending of documents

314. (1) On completing the return to the writ, the returning officer shall without delay send to the Chief Electoral Officer all election documents in his or her possession together with

    (a) a report of the returning officer's proceedings in the prescribed form including his or her comments with respect to the state of the election documents received from the deputy returning officers;

    (b) a summary, in the prescribed form, of the number of votes cast for each candidate at each polling station; and

    (c) all other documents that were used at the election.

Report re: disappear-
ance of ballot box, etc.

(2) In any case arising under section 296, the returning officer shall mention specially, in a report to be sent to the Chief Electoral Officer with the return to the writ, the circumstances accompanying the disappearance of the ballot boxes or the lack of any statement of the vote, and the mode by which the returning officer ascertained the number of votes cast for each candidate.

Duplicate of return to each candidate

315. (1) The returning officer shall forward a copy of the return to the writ to each candidate.

Premature return

(2) A premature return to the writ is deemed not to have reached the Chief Electoral Officer until it should have reached the Chief Electoral Officer in due course.

Correction of writ

(3) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, if necessary, send back the return to the writ and any or all of the related election documents to the returning officer for completion or correction.

Where report made before recount

316. (1) Where, at the time of the issue of an order under section 311 or 312, the returning officer for the electoral district in respect of which the order is made has made a return to the writ under section 314, the Chief Electoral Officer shall, on being provided with a certified copy of the order, send back to the returning officer all election documents required for use at the recount.

Duties of returning officer on recount

(2) On receiving a judge's certificate with respect to the result of a recount, the returning officer shall

    (a) if the result of the recount is that a person other than the person named in the original return is to be returned, make a substitute return to the writ; or

    (b) if the result of the recount is to confirm the return, send the papers back to the Chief Electoral Officer without delay and not make a substitute return to the writ.

Effect of substitute return

(3) A substitute return made under paragraph (2)(a) has the effect of cancelling the original return.

Procedure on receipt of return by Chief Electoral Officer

317. The Chief Electoral Officer, on receiving each return to the writ, shall, in the order in which the return is received,

    (a) indicate, in a book kept by the Chief Electoral Officer for the purpose, that he or she has received it; and

    (b) publish in the Canada Gazette the name of the candidate who was declared elected.

Equality of votes

318. If the return to the writ indicates an equality of votes between the candidates with the largest number of votes, the Chief Electoral Officer shall without delay

    (a) prepare and send to the Speaker of the House of Commons or, if none, two members of the House or two candidates who have been declared elected, as the case may be, a report stating that no candidate was declared elected in the electoral district because of the equality of votes; and

    (b) publish in the Canada Gazette

      (i) the names of the candidates between whom there was an equality of votes, and

      (ii) notice that, as no candidate was declared elected in the electoral district because of the equality of votes, a by-election will be conducted under subsection 29(1.1) of the Parliament of Canada Act.

PART 16

COMMUNICATIONS

Interpretation

Definitions

319. The definitions in this section apply in this Part.

``election advertising''
« publicité électorale »

``election advertising'' means advertising during an election period that promotes or opposes a registered party or the election of a candidate, including by taking a position on an issue with which the registered party or candidate is associated. It does not include

      (a) editorials, debates, speeches, news, interviews, columns, letters or commentaries that are published in a periodical publication or on what is commonly known as the Internet or broadcast by radio or television;

      (b) a book that is produced, promoted or distributed for no less than its commercial value, if the book was planned to be made available to the public regardless of whether there was to be an election; or

      (c) a document that is sent directly by a person or a group to their members, employees or shareholders, as the case may be.

``election survey''
« sondage électoral »

``election survey'' means an opinion survey of how electors will vote at an election or respecting an issue with which a registered party or candidate is associated.

``network''
« réseau »

``network'' means a network as defined in subsection 2(1) of the Broadcasting Act, but does not include a temporary network operation as defined in that subsection.

``network operator''
« exploitant de réseau »

``network operator'' means a person or undertaking to which permission has been granted by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission to form and operate a network.

``prime time''
« heures de grande écoute »

``prime time'', in the case of a radio station, means the time between the hours of 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., and, in the case of a television station, means the hours between 6 p.m. and midnight.

Election Advertising

Publication must be authorized

320. A candidate, registered party or person acting on their behalf who causes any election advertising to be conducted shall indicate on it that the publication was authorized by the official agent of the candidate or by the registered agent of the party, as the case may be.

Government publications

321. (1) No person shall knowingly publish or consent to the publication of election advertising in a government publication.

Application

(2) For the purpose of subsection (1), a person includes a group within the meaning of Part 17.

Election advertising posters

322. (1) No landlord or person acting on his or her behalf may prohibit a tenant from displaying election advertising posters on the premises to which the lease relates and no condominium corporation or its agent may prohibit the owner of a condominium unit from displaying election advertising posters on the premises of his or her unit.

Permitted restrictions

(2) Despite subsection (1), a landlord, person, condominium corporation or agent referred to in that subsection may set reasonable conditions relating to the size or type of election advertising posters that may be displayed on the premises and may prohibit the display of election advertising posters in common areas of the building in which the premises are found.

Blackout period

323. (1) No person shall knowingly conduct election advertising by publishing or broadcasting, in a periodical publication or on radio or television or what is commonly known as the Internet, on the day before polling day or on polling day until the close of all polling stations.

Exception

(2) A notice of an event that the leader of a registered party intends to attend or a notice of invitation to meet or hear the leader of a registered party is not election advertising for the purpose of subsection (1).

Definition of ``person''

(3) For the purpose of subsection (1), a person includes a registered party and a group within the meaning of Part 17.

Media

324. No person shall, with or without consideration, publish or broadcast election advertising in a periodical publication or on radio or television, on the day before polling day or on polling day until the close of all polling stations.

Removal of advertising prohibited

325. No person shall remove, cover up or alter any printed election advertising without the consent of the person who authorized it.

Election Opinion Surveys

Broadcast of election survey results

326. (1) The first broadcaster or network operator who broadcasts the results of an election survey, other than one that is described in section 327, during an election period and any broadcaster or network operator who so broadcasts those results within 24 hours after they are first made available to the public must provide the following together with the results:

    (a) the name of the sponsor of the survey;

    (b) the name of the person or organization that conducted the survey;

    (c) the date on which or the period during which the survey was conducted;

    (d) the population from which the sample of respondents was drawn;

    (e) the number of people who were contacted to participate in the survey; and

    (f) if applicable, the margin of error in respect of the data derived from the responses to the questions.

Publication of election survey results

(2) The first publisher who publishes the results of an election survey, other than one that is described in section 327, during an election period in a periodical publication or on what is commonly known as the Internet and any publisher who so publishes those results within 24 hours after they are first made available to the public must provide the following together with the results:

    (a) the name of the sponsor of the survey;

    (b) the name of the person or organization that conducted the survey;

    (c) the date on which or the period during which the survey was conducted;

    (d) the population from which the sample of respondents was drawn;

    (e) the number of people who were contacted to participate in the survey;

    (f) if applicable, the margin of error in respect of the data derived from the responses to the questions;

    (g) the wording of the survey questions in respect of which data are derived; and

    (h) the means by which a report referred to in subsection (3) may be obtained.

Report on survey results

(3) A sponsor of an election survey shall, at any time during an election period after the results of the survey are made public, provide, on request, a copy of a written report on the results of the survey, as broadcast under subsection (1) or published under subsection (2), as the case may be. The report shall include the following, as applicable:

    (a) the name and address of the sponsor of the survey;

    (b) the name and address of the person or organization that conducted the survey;

    (c) the date on which or the period during which the survey was conducted;

    (d) information about the method used to collect the data from which the survey results are derived, including

      (i) the sampling method,

      (ii) the population from which the sample was drawn,

      (iii) the size of the initial sample,