Bill C-250

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First Reading

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	REFERENDUM REVIEW COUNCIL
Council established	6.1 (1) There is hereby established a council to be known as the Referendum Review Council, consisting of three judges of the Federal Court of Canada appointed by the Chief Justice of the Court.
Chair	(2) The Chief Justice shall name one of the three judges appointed to be the Chair of the Council.
Vacancy	(3) In the event that one member of the Council resigns, dies or becomes unable to act, the Chief Justice shall appoint another judge of the court to fill the vacancy.
Jurisdiction	6.2 The Referendum Review Council shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear any judicial proceeding relating to anything arising under this Act.
Decisions final	6.3 A decision of the Referendum Review Council is final.
Decisions of the Council	6.4 (1) A proposal for legislation or a constitutional amendment made pursuant to this Act that has been certified by the Clerk, after consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer, to contain a number of valid signatures in excess of the number required, shall be referred to the Referendum Review Council for a decision on
	(a) whether it requires that section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms be invoked;
	(b) whether it would appropriate any part of the public revenue or of any tax or impost; or
	(c) whether it is substantially similar to another proposal initiated by petition that has been certified by the Clerk, after consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer, to contain a number of valid signatures in excess of the number required.
Decision in thirty days	(2) The Council shall render a decision on all matters placed before it within thirty days from the date on which they have been placed before the Council.
Absence of decision	(3) If the Council does not render a decision within thirty days from the date on which the matter was referred to the Council, the subject of the referendum is deemed, for purposes of being placed on the ballot,
	(a) to be subject to the amending formula selected by the Governor in Council, in the case of amendments initiated under subsection 3(1), or by the petition committee, in the case of amendments initiated under subsection 3(1.1);
	(b) not to appropriate any part of the public revenue or of any tax or impost; and
	(c) not to be substantially similar to another proposal initiated by petition under subsection 3(1.1) or 3(1.3) that has been certified by the Clerk to contain a number of valid signatures in excess of the number required.
Decisions made public	6.5 No decision of the Council is valid unless it is in writing and is made public by the Council when it is rendered.
Temporary assistance	6.6 The Chair of the Council may call upon the services, on a temporary basis, of any person the Chair considers necessary to assist the Council to carry out its function.
	ROYAL RECOMMENDATION
Royal Recommen- dation to be requested for all Money Bills	6.7 If the Referendum Review Council determines that a proposed bill initiated by petition appropriates any part of the public revenue or of any tax or impost, the Governor in Council shall, prior to the referendum, request the Governor General to recommend the bill by a message to the House of Commons, in accordance with sections 54 and 55 of the Constitution Act, 1867.
	12. Section 11 of the Act is replaced by the following:
Persons permitted in polling station	11. (1) During the time in which a poll remains open at a polling station, no person other than
	(a) the returning officer, the assistant returning officer, the central poll supervisor, the deputy returning officer, the poll clerk, any peace officer and the information officer, and
	(b) an agent of each registered umbrella committee
	shall remain in the room where the voting is carried out for a period longer than the period necessary to enable that person to vote.
Delivery of agent's appointment	(2) Forthwith on being admitted to a polling station, every agent of a registered umbrella committee shall present to the deputy returning officer the written appointment of the agent in the form prescribed by the Chief Electoral Officer.
Oath of secrecy	(3) Every agent of a registered umbrella committee, on being admitted to the first polling station that the agent visits, shall take an oath in the prescribed form to keep secret the option in favour of which the ballot paper of any elector is marked in the agent's presence.
Appointment of agents	(4) A registered umbrella committee or the official agent of a registered umbrella committee may appoint as many agents as the committee or official agent deems necessary for a polling station, but only one agent or agent-at-large may be present in the polling station at any time.
Agent leaving polling station	(5) An agent of a registered umbrella committee may leave and return to a polling station at any time before the close of the poll and, after such absence, is not required to produce a new written appointment from the official agent of the committee or to take another oath pursuant to subsection (3).
Examination of poll book and conveying information	(6) An agent of a registered umbrella committee may, during polling hours, but at no other time,
	(a) examine the poll book and take any information therefrom, but not so as to delay an elector in casting a vote; and
	(b) convey any information obtained by the examination referred to in paragraph (a) to any agent of the committee outside the polling station.
	13. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 11:
Counting of ballots	11.1 (1) The agents present in the polling station one-half hour before the hour fixed for opening the poll are entitled to have the ballot papers counted in their collective presence before the opening of the poll and to inspect the ballot papers and all other papers, forms and documents relating to the poll, but not so as to delay the opening of the poll.
Presence of agents	(2) The absence of any agent of a registered umbrella committee at any time or place does not invalidate any act done or not done pursuant to this Act if the act is otherwise properly done or not done and, notwithstanding any provision of this Act requiring or authorizing any act to be done or not done at the polls or elsewhere in the presence of agents of the committees, the provision is deemed to refer to the presence of such agents of the committees as are authorized to attend and in attendance at the time.
	14. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 12:
Effect of non- compliance with Act	12.1 A referendum shall not be declared invalid by reason of
	(a) non-compliance with any provision of this Act relating to
	(i) limitations of time, or
	(ii) the taking of the poll or the counting of the votes,
	or
	(b) any insufficiency in any publication of any proclamation, notice or other document, or any mistake in the use of the forms prescribed by the Chief Electoral Officer pursuant to this Act,
	if it appears to the judge that the referendum was conducted substantially in accordance with the principles laid down in this Act and that the non-compliance did not affect the result of the referendum.
	15. Subsection 13(9) of the Act is replaced by the following:
Validity of registration	(9) The registration of a referendum campaign committee for the purposes of a referendum question is valid only for purposes of that referendum question .
	16. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 13:
	UMBRELLA CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES
Powers of umbrella campaign committees	13.1 An umbrella campaign committee may
	(a) appoint scrutineers, in the prescribed form, to be present during voting and the counting of votes, both at the time that referendum ballots are counted and at the time of any recount; and
	(b) prepare material for inclusion in the explanatory booklet prepared by the Chief Electoral Officer.
Creation of umbrella campaign committees	13.2 If a petition for proposed legislation or a constitutional amendment obtains the required number of signatures, the Chief Electoral Officer shall appoint not fewer than three nor more than twenty electors as a provisional umbrella campaign committee in favour of the proposal, and not fewer than three nor more than twenty electors to form a provisional umbrella campaign committee against the proposal.
Registered petition committees	13.3 (1) Where a petition committee has sponsored a petition in favour of a proposal that is to be the subject of a referendum, the Chief Electoral Officer must appoint those persons nominated in writing by the committee to form the provisional umbrella campaign committee in favour of the proposal.
No nominations	(2) If no nomination of electors is submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer, the Chief Electoral Officer shall appoint the members of the petition committee.
Initial meeting	13.4 (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, with the least possible delay, call an initial meeting of the provisional umbrella campaign committees.
By-laws and Chair	(2) At its initial meeting, a provisional umbrella committee shall adopt by-laws to govern the procedures of the committee and the establishment and authorization of branches of the committee in electoral districts, and shall appoint one of its members as Chair.
Establish- ment, name and operation of umbrella campaign committee	13.5 (1) The by-laws governing an umbrella campaign committee shall govern its operation and procedures and specify the name by which it is to be known.
Coming into effect of by-law	(2) A by-law comes into effect when a copy of the resolution, signed by a majority of the members, is received by the Chief Electoral Officer.
	17. Section 14 of the Act is amended by adding the following after paragraph (d):
	(e) the Government of Canada or an agent thereof;
	(f) the government of a province or territory or an agent thereof;
	(g) the government of a county or municipality or an agent thereof;
	(h) the government of a self-governing aboriginal nation within Canada, or the band council of an Indian band under the Indian Act; or
	(i) any group or organization that received fifty per cent or more of its funding in its previous fiscal year from the Government of Canada, one or more provincial or territorial governments, one or more municipal governments, one or more self-governing aboriginal nations, one or more band councils of Indian Bands under the Indian Act, the agents of one or more of the above, or any combination of the above.
	18. Paragraph 15(3)(b) of the Act is replaced by the following:
	(b) for the year commencing on any subsequent April 1 is the product obtained by multiplying three cents by the fraction published pursuant to subsection 39(2) of the Canada Elections Act for that year.
	19. Section 31 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):
Explanatory booklet	(3) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, as soon as possible after the issue of a writ of referendum, issue an electors' booklet, in the form prescribed by the Chief Electoral Officer, including:
	(a) a facsimile of the ballot that will be presented to voters at the date of the referendum;
	(b) a complete text of each of the bills that will be voted on;
	(c) a brief statement of the law as it exists;
	(d) a brief statement of the effect of the proposed bill;
	(e) two written statements, each of which is no more than two hundred and fifty words in length, one advocating the voters' approval of the measure and one advocating the voters' rejection of the measure; and
	(f) two written statements, each of which is no more than seventy-five words in length, rebutting the statement advocating approval and the statement advocating rejection of the measure.
Explanatory booklet	(4) The text of the statements mentioned in paragraphs (3)(e) and (f) shall be provided by the relevant umbrella committee.
	20. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 33:
Who may initiate a petition	33.1 Any person who is eligible to vote at a general election under the Canada Elections Act may initiate a petition addressed to the Clerk for a referendum to seek the opinion of the electors on a proposal for legislation of an amendment to the Constitution of Canada under subsection 38(1) or section 41, 42, 43 or 44 of the Constitution Act, 1982.
Statements to accompany a petition presented for signature	33.2 (1) A person who presents a petition to an elector for signature must show the elector the full text of the petition and a summary of not more than one hundred words that accurately reflects its purpose.
Statement to electors	(2) Every petition must clearly display the following statement:
	``Every person who signs this petition with other than his or her true name, knowingly signs more than one petition relating to the same question, signs this petition when he or she is not an eligible voter or makes a false statement on this petition is guilty of an offence and may be punished by a fine or imprisonment or both.''
Language of petition	33.3 A petition form may be circulated in either English or French or in both official languages.
Statements with petition submitted to Chief Electoral Officer	33.4 A petition filed with the Clerk shall be accompanied by a solemn or statutory declaration
	(a) signed by the petitioners;
	(b) stating the name, address and postal codes of each petitioner;
	(c) stating the date on which each petitioner signed; and
	(d) stating the question to be submitted to the electors.
Collection period	33.5 No signature to a petition to hold a referendum is valid if dated more than eighteen months before the date the petition is filed pursuant to section 33.4.
Who may circulate a petition	33.6 (1) A petition may be circulated for signature by any Canadian citizen.
Means of circulation	(2) Subject to sections 33.2, 33.3 and 33.4, a petition may be circulated electronically or by mail.
Expenses	(3) No person may receive compensation for circulating a petition, except for reasonable and actual expenses for meal costs or travel costs incurred while collecting petitions or reporting for volunteer work.

Bill C-250

REFERENDUM REVIEW COUNCIL

ROYAL RECOMMENDATION

UMBRELLA CAMPAIGN COMMITTEES