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Her Excellency the Governor General recommends to the House of
Commons the appropriation of public revenue under the circumstances,
in the manner and for the purposes set out in a measure entitled ``An Act
respecting the election of members to the House of Commons,
repealing other Acts relating to elections and making consequential
amendments to other Acts''.
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This enactment repeals and replaces the Canada Elections Act,
updating its language, adding new provisions and reorganizing its
content.
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Some new provisions of the enactment deal with election
campaigns, including spending limits on third party election
advertising, a blackout on election polls and election advertising on
polling day and the day before polling day, a requirement that the
methodology of a poll be published with the poll's results, the right of
electors to post reasonable signage during a campaign and an
enforceable right of candidates to campaign in multiple-residential
buildings during reasonable hours.
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Finance provisions provide for a registered party that fails to
nominate 50 candidates to keep its net assets subject to certain
conditions. Reporting requirements for registered parties and
candidates are improved. The enactment also provides for the
disclosure of the names and addresses of campaign contributors of more
than $200, and for the full refund to candidates of their nomination
deposits when they submit their campaign returns.
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The enactment extends the franchise to returning officers and gives
the Chief Electoral Officer the discretion to adjust voting hours for
electoral districts that do not switch to Daylight Saving Time during the
summer months. It also provides for voting hours in a by-election.
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The enactment provides for an interim relief power, alternative
penalties and compliance agreements for the resolution of
contraventions.
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The enactment repeals the Dominion Controverted Elections Act and
creates a process by which a court may declare election results void if
serious irregularities have affected the outcome.
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The enactment also makes consequential amendments to the
Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, the Parliament of Canada Act,
the Referendum Act, the Supreme Court Act and the Income Tax Act
including increasing the cut-off for the political tax credit to $200 (from
$100) for the 75% rate and repeals the Disfranchising Act and the
Corrupt Practices Act.
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Clause 559: Subsection 25(2) reads as follows:
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(2) For the purpose only of authorizing and enabling the
appointment, pursuant to section 14 of the Canada Elections Act, of
returning officers whenever required, the representation order shall be
deemed to be in force effective on the day on which the proclamation
declaring it to be in force was issued.
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Clause 560: (1) Subsections 127(3) to (4.2) read as
follows:
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(3) There may be deducted from the tax otherwise payable by a
taxpayer under this Part for a taxation year in respect of the total of all
amounts each of which is an amount contributed by the taxpayer in the
year to a registered party or to an officially nominated candidate at an
election of a member or members to serve in the House of Commons of
Canada (in this section referred to as ``the total''),
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(a) 75% of the total if the total does not exceed $100,
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(b) $75 plus 50% of the amount by which the total exceeds $100 if
the total exceeds $100 and does not exceed $550, or
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(i) $300 plus 33 1/3% of the amount by which the total exceeds
$550 if the total exceeds $550, and
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if payment of each amount contributed that is included in the total is
proven by filing a receipt with the Minister, signed by a registered agent
of the registered party or by the official agent of the officially nominated
candidate, as the case may be, that contains prescribed information.
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(3.1) A receipt referred to in subsection (3) shall not be issued
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(a) by a registered agent of a registered party, or
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(b) by an official agent of an officially nominated candidate
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otherwise than in respect of an amount contributed and to the
contributor of such an amount.
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(3.2) Where an amount contributed has been received by an official
agent of an officially nominated candidate other than an officially
nominated candidate in any of the electoral districts referred to in
Schedule III to the Canada Elections Act, the official agent shall
forthwith deposit that amount contributed in an account standing to the
credit of the official agent in the agent's capacity as such in the records
of a branch or other office in Canada of
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(b) a corporation that is licensed or otherwise authorized under the
laws of Canada or a province to carry on in Canada the business of
offering to the public its services as trustee; or
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(4) In subsections (3), (3.1), (3.2) and (4.1), the terms ``official
agent'', ``registered agent'' and ``registered party'' have the meanings
assigned to them by section 2 of the Canada Elections Act and the term
``officially nominated candidate'' means a person in respect of whom
a nomination paper and deposit have been filed as referred to in the
definition ``official nomination'' in that section of that Act.
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(4.1) In subsections (3), (3.1) and (3.2), ``amount contributed'' by a
taxpayer means a contribution by the taxpayer to a registered party or
an officially nominated candidate in the form of cash or in the form of
a negotiable instrument issued by the taxpayer, but does not include
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(a) a contribution made by an official agent of an officially
nominated candidate or a registered agent of a registered party (in the
agent's capacity as such official agent or registered agent, as the case
may be) to another such official agent or registered agent, as the case
may be; or
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(b) a contribution in respect of which the taxpayer has received or is
entitled to receive a financial benefit of any kind (other than a
prescribed financial benefit or a deduction pursuant to subsection
(3)) from a government, municipality or other public authority,
whether as a grant, subsidy, forgivable loan or deduction from tax or
an allowance or otherwise.
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(4.2) Where a taxpayer was, at the end of a taxation year of a
partnership, a member of the partnership, the taxpayer's share of any
amount contributed by the partnership in that taxation year that would,
if the partnership were a person, be an amount contributed referred to
in subsection (3), shall, for the purposes of that subsection, be deemed
to be an amount contributed by the taxpayer in the taxpayer's taxation
year in which the taxation year of the partnership ended.
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Clause 561: Subsection 28(1) reads as follows:
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28. (1) If any vacancy occurs in the House of Commons by reason
of the death of a member of the House or the acceptance of an office by
a member of the House, the Speaker of the House shall forthwith, on
being informed of the vacancy by any member of the House in his place
or by notice in writing under the hands and seals of any two members
of the House, address a warrant of the Speaker to the Chief Electoral
Officer for the issue of a writ for the election of a member to fill the
vacancy.
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Clause 562: Subsections 29(1.1) and (1.2) are new.
Subsection 29(2) reads as follows:
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(2) A writ referred to in subsection (1) may issue at any time after the
death or acceptance of office by a member.
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Clause 563: Subsections 30(2) and (3) read as
follows:
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(2) The report of any judge appointed to try the previous election, or
of the Supreme Court of Canada, in case of an appeal, shall determine
whether the member referred to in subsection (1) or any other person
was duly returned or elected at the previous election.
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(3) The determination made in accordance with subsection (2), if
adverse to the return of the member, and in favour of any other
candidate, voids the election held under the writ issued pursuant to
section 29, and the candidate declared duly elected at the previous
election is entitled to take a seat in the House of Commons as if no
election had been so held.
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Clause 564: Subsection 31(3) reads as follows:
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(3) If Parliament is dissolved after the issue of a writ in accordance
with this section, the writ shall thereupon be deemed to have been
superseded and withdrawn.
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Clause 565: The relevant portion of subsection 63(3)
reads as follows:
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(3) Subject to section 67, in addition to the expenses payable
pursuant to subsection (1), there shall be paid to each of the members
of the Senate and the House of Commons an allowance for expenses
incidental to the discharge of the duties of the member,
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(b) in the case of a member of the House of Commons,
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(ii) at the rate of thirteen thousand two hundred and seventy-five
dollars per annum if the member represents any other electoral
district listed in Schedule III to the Canada Elections Act, and
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Clause 566: Subsection 13(6) reads as follows:
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(6) For the purposes of subsection (5), the name of a party means
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(a) the full name of the party; and
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(b) any name, or abbreviation of a name, used to identify the party
in election documents.
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Clause 567: The heading before section 29 reads as
follows:
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Clause 568: (1) Subsections 29(1) and (2) read as
follows:
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29. (1) Her Majesty in right of Canada may, not later than ten days
after the official addition of the votes has been completed in an electoral
district, apply for a recount of the votes cast in the electoral district on
a referendum question to a judge to whom an application for a recount
may be made under the Canada Elections Act in respect of the electoral
district.
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(2) Her Majesty in right of a province or any elector ordinarily
resident in a province may, not later than ten days after the official
addition of the votes has been completed in an electoral district in the
province, apply for a recount of the votes cast in the electoral district on
a referendum question to a judge to whom an application for a recount
may be made under the Canada Elections Act in respect of the electoral
district.
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(2) Subsections 29(5) and (6) read as follows:
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(5) The judge to whom an application is made shall order that the
recount be carried out and shall appoint a time for commencing the
recount, if the judge is satisfied that
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(a) votes cast in the electoral district on the referendum question may
have been wrongly rejected, counted, added or reported; and
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(b) there is a reasonable possibility that, if the votes are properly
rejected, counted, added and reported, the opinion of the majority of
the electors in the electoral district who cast ballots on that question
will be shown to be opposite to what it was shown to be by the
original count.
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(6) A recount shall be commenced within four days after it was
ordered.
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Clause 569: Section 30 reads as follows:
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30. Where, at a recount under section 29 of the votes cast on a
referendum question, the judge is satisfied that either the electors who
support the question or those who oppose it are not represented at the
recount, any three electors who demand to attend on behalf of the
electors who are not so represented are entitled to attend, but, except
with the permission of the judge, no persons other than those who are
by this section entitled to attend at the recount shall be permitted to
attend.
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Clause 570: The definition ``referendum officer'' in
subsection 32(1) reads as follows:
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``referendum officer'' means the Chief Electoral Officer, the Assistant
Chief Electoral Officer and every returning officer, assistant
returning officer, deputy returning officer, poll clerk, revising agent
and registration officer, and includes any person having any duty to
perform under this Act, to the faithful performance of which duty the
person may be sworn.
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Clause 571: Section 38 reads as follows:
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38. For the purposes of a prosecution or proceeding under this Act,
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(a) the first reference in subsection 256(1), the references in
subsections 257(1) and 276(1) and (3) and section 277, the first
reference in subsection 279(1) and the reference in subsection
279(2) of the Canada Elections Act to ``this Act'' shall be construed
as references to ``the Referendum Act''; and
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(b) the second reference in subsection 256(1), the references in
section 275 and the second reference in subsection 279(1) of the
Canada Elections Act to ``this Act'' shall be construed as references
to ``this Act or the Referendum Act''. This section does not apply to
any appeal in the case of an election petition.
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Clause 572: Subsection 59(3) reads as follows:
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(3) This section does not apply to any appeal in the case of an election
petition.
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