Bill C-2
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Polling Divisions |
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Minimum of
250 electors
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538. (1) Each polling division shall contain
at least 250 electors unless the Chief Electoral
Officer agrees otherwise.
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Boundaries of
polling
divisions
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(2) Subject to subsection (3), the polling
divisions of an electoral district in a general
election remain the same as at the
immediately preceding general election.
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Revision
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(3) The Chief Electoral Officer may instruct
a returning officer to revise the boundaries of
any polling division in the returning officer's
electoral district, and may fix the date by
which the revision shall be completed.
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Factors
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(4) The returning officer shall revise the
polling divisions in accordance with the
instructions of the Chief Electoral Officer,
taking into account the polling divisions
established by municipal and provincial
authorities and the accessibility by electors to
the polling stations established in them.
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Institutions
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(5) A returning officer may, with the
approval of the Chief Electoral Officer,
constitute polling divisions that consist of two
or more institutions where seniors or persons
with a physical disability reside.
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Amendments to Schedule 3 |
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Amendments
to list of
electoral
districts
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539. (1) Subject to subsection (2), the Chief
Electoral Officer may amend the list of
electoral districts set out in Schedule 3 by
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Time
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(2) No amendment to the list of electoral
districts set out in Schedule 3 may be made
later than seven days after a representation
order and no such amendment becomes
effective until notice of it has been published
in the Canada Gazette.
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Custody of Election Documents and Documents Relating to the Register of Electors |
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Chief
Electoral
Officer to
retain election
documents
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540. (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall
retain in his or her possession the election
documents sent to him or her by a returning
officer, with the return of the writ, for at least
one year if the election is not contested during
that time and, if the election is contested, for
one year after the end of the contestation.
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Documents
relating to
Register of
Electors
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(2) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, for at
least two years after receiving them, retain in
his or her possession, on film or in electronic
form, all documents that relate to the updating
of the Register of Electors.
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Inspection of
documents
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(3) No election documents, or documents
that relate to the establishment or updating of
the Register of Electors, that are retained in
the custody of the Chief Electoral Officer
under subsection (1) or (2) shall, during the
period of their retention, be inspected or
produced except under an order of a judge of
a superior court, which, if made, the Chief
Electoral Officer shall obey.
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Exception
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(4) Subsection (3) does not prohibit the
Chief Electoral Officer, any authorized
member of his or her staff or the
Commissioner from inspecting the documents
referred to in that subsection, and any of those
documents may be produced by the
Commissioner for the purpose of an inquiry
made under section 510 or a prosecution for an
offence under this Act.
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Election
documents or
papers
admissible in
evidence
when certified
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(5) When a judge of a superior court has
ordered the production of election documents,
the Chief Electoral Officer need not, unless
the judge orders otherwise, appear personally
to produce them but shall certify the
documents and send them by courier to the
clerk or registrar of the court, who shall, when
the documents have served the purposes of the
judge, return them by courier to the Chief
Electoral Officer.
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Certified
documents
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(6) Documents purporting to be certified by
the Chief Electoral Officer are admissible in
evidence without further proof.
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Filmed or
electronic
evidence
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(7) In any proceedings under this Act, a
print that is made from a photographic film or
from a document in electronic form made by
the Chief Electoral Officer for the purpose of
keeping a permanent record of a document,
and certified by the Chief Electoral Officer or
by a person acting in the name of or under the
direction of the Chief Electoral Officer, is
admissible in evidence for all purposes for
which the recorded document would be
admitted as evidence, without proof of the
signature or official character of the person
appearing to have signed the certificate.
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Order of
Court
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(8) A judge may make an order under
subsection (3) on being satisfied by evidence
on oath that the inspection or production of a
document referred to in that subsection is
required for the purpose of instituting or
maintaining a prosecution for an offence in
relation to an election or for the purpose of an
application under subsection 524(1).
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Conditions of
inspections
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(9) An order for the inspection or
production of election documents or
documents that relate to the updating of the
Register of Electors may be made subject to
any conditions with respect to persons, time,
place and mode of inspection or production
that the judge considers appropriate.
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Inspection of
instructions,
correspond- ence and other reports
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541. (1) All documents referred to in
subsections 424(1), 429(1), 451(1) and
455(1), all other reports or statements, other
than election documents received from
election officers, all instructions issued by the
Chief Electoral Officer under this Act, all
decisions or rulings by him or her on points
arising under this Act and all correspondence
with election officers or others in relation to an
election are public records and may be
inspected by any person on request during
business hours.
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Extracts
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(2) Any person may take extracts from
documents referred to in subsection (1) and is
entitled to obtain copies of them on payment
of a fee of up to $0.25 per page.
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Evidence
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(3) Any copies of documents referred to in
subsection (1) purporting to be certified by the
Chief Electoral Officer are admissible in
evidence without further proof.
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Fees and Expenses of Election Officers |
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Tariff
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542. (1) On the recommendation of the
Chief Electoral Officer, the Governor in
Council may make a tariff fixing or providing
for the determination of fees, costs,
allowances and expenses to be paid and
allowed to returning officers and other persons
employed at or in relation to elections under
this Act.
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Effective date
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(2) The Governor in Council may specify
that a tariff made under subsection (1) has
effect as of a day that is before the one on
which it is made.
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Copy to
House of
Commons
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(3) A copy of a tariff made under subsection
(1) and of any amendment made to one shall
be laid before the House of Commons on any
of the first 15 days on which that House is
sitting after the making of the tariff or
amendment.
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Payment of
claims
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543. All claims that relate to the conduct of
an election shall be paid by separate cheques
issued from the office of the Receiver General
at Ottawa and sent directly to each person who
is entitled to payment.
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Accountable
advance
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544. (1) An accountable advance may be
made to an election officer to defray office and
other incidental expenses in any amount that
may be approved under the tariff made under
subsection 542(1).
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Preparation of
accounts
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(2) A returning officer shall prepare, in the
prescribed form, all accounts to be submitted
by the returning officer to the Chief Electoral
Officer and is responsible for their
correctness.
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Increase of
fees and
allowances
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545. (1) If it appears to the Governor in
Council that the fees and allowances provided
for by a tariff made under subsection 542(1)
are not sufficient remuneration for the
services required to be performed at an
election, or that a claim for any necessary
service performed or for materials supplied
for or at an election is not covered by the tariff,
the Governor in Council may authorize the
payment of any sum or additional sum for the
services or materials supplied that the
Governor in Council considers just and
reasonable.
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Payment of
additional
sums
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(2) The Chief Electoral Officer may, in
accordance with regulations made by the
Governor in Council, in any case in which the
fees and allowances provided for by a tariff
made under subsection 542(1) are not
sufficient remuneration for the services
required to be performed at an election, or for
any necessary service performed, authorize
the payment of such additional sum for the
services as he or she considers just and
reasonable.
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Taxation of
accounts
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546. (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall,
in accordance with the tariff made under
subsection 542(1), tax all accounts that relate
to the conduct of an election and transmit them
without delay to the Receiver General.
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Rights saved
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(2) Despite subsection (1), the rights, if any,
of claimants to compel payment or further
payment by process of law remain
unimpaired.
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Notice |
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Giving of
notices
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547. (1) When any election officer is by this
Act authorized or required to give a public
notice and no special mode of notification is
indicated, the notice may be in the form and
given in the manner established by the Chief
Electoral Officer.
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Posting of
notices, etc.
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(2) Notices and other documents required
by this Act to be posted may be posted despite
any law of Canada or of a province or any
municipal ordinance or by-law.
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Prohibition -
removal of
notices
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548. (1) No person shall, without authority,
remove, cover up or alter any Notice of
Election or other document that is authorized
or required by this Act to be posted.
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Notice
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(2) A notice that may be easily read - to
the effect that it is an offence with severe
penalties to remove, cover up or alter the
document - shall appear on, or be posted
near, a Notice of Election or other document
referred to in subsection (1).
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Oaths and Affidavits |
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Adminis- tration of oaths, etc.
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549. (1) When an oath or affidavit is
authorized or directed to be taken under this
Act, it shall be administered by the person who
by this Act is expressly required to administer
it and, if there is no such person, then by the
Chief Electoral Officer or a person designated
by him or her in writing, a judge, the returning
officer, an assistant returning officer, a deputy
returning officer, a poll clerk, a notary public,
a provincial court judge, a justice of the peace
or a commissioner for taking affidavits in the
province.
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No fees for
oaths, etc.
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(2) All oaths or affidavits taken under this
Act shall be administered free of charge.
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Taking oath
falsely
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(3) No person shall take falsely an oath that
is provided for by this Act.
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Compelling or
inducing false
oath
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(4) No person shall compel, induce or
attempt to compel or induce any other person
to take falsely an oath that is provided for by
this Act.
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Signed Pledges by Candidates Prohibited |
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Signed
pledges by
candidates
prohibited
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550. No candidate shall sign a written
document presented by way of demand or
claim made on him or her by any person or
association of persons, between the issue of
the writ and polling day, if the document
requires the candidate to follow a course of
action that will prevent him or her from
exercising freedom of action in Parliament, if
elected, or to resign as a member if called on
to do so by any person or association of
persons.
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By-Elections |
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Notice of
withdrawal of
writ
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551. If a writ is deemed to have been
superseded and withdrawn under subsection
31(3) of the Parliament of Canada Act, the
Chief Electoral Officer shall publish a notice
in the Canada Gazette of the withdrawal of the
writ and the cancellation of the election.
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Forms |
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Tabling of
forms
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552. Each form established for the purposes
of paragraph 424(1)(a) or 429(1)(a) shall be
laid before the House of Commons on any of
the first 15 days that it is sitting after the form
is made by the Chief Electoral Officer.
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Payments out of Consolidated Revenue Fund |
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Amounts to
be paid out of
C.R.F.
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553. The following shall be paid out of
unappropriated moneys forming part of the
Consolidated Revenue Fund:
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Amendments |
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Application of
amendments
to subsequent
election
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554. (1) No amendment to this Act applies
in an election for which the writ is issued
within six months after the passing of the
amendment unless, before the issue of the
writ, the Chief Electoral Officer has published
a notice in the Canada Gazette that the
necessary preparations for the bringing into
operation of the amendment have been made
and that the amendment may come into force
accordingly.
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Consolida- tion of amendments
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(2) It is the duty of the Chief Electoral
Officer immediately after the passing of an
amendment to this Act to consolidate the
amendment, so far as necessary, in the copies
of the Act printed for distribution to returning
officers, to correct and reprint all forms and
instructions affected by it and to publish a
notice in the Canada Gazette as soon as copies
of the Act and the forms and instructions have
been so corrected and reprinted.
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