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Bill C-277

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First Reading

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	2nd Session, 36th Parliament, 48 Elizabeth II, 1999
	The House of Commons of Canada
	BILL C-277
	An Act to provide for the holding of citizen-initiated referenda on specific questions
	Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows:
Short title	1. This Act may be cited as the Citizen-Initiated Referendum Act.
Interpreta- tion	2. The definitions in this section apply in this Act, unless the context requires otherwise.
``broadcas- ter'' « diffu- seur »	``broadcaster'' has the meaning given to it in the Canada Elections Act.
``Chief Electoral Officer'' « directeur général des élections »	``Chief Electoral Officer'' means the Chief Electoral Officer under the Canada Elections Act and includes any person authorized under that Act to exercise the powers, duties and functions of the Chief Electoral Officer.
``Clerk'' « greffier »	``Clerk'' means the Clerk of the House of Commons.
``Council'' « conseil »	``Council'' means the Referendum Review Council established by section 20.
``election'' « élection »	``election'' means an election of a member or members to serve in the House of Commons.
``elector'' « électeur »	``elector'' means any person who is qualified as an elector pursuant to sections 50 to 52 of the Canada Elections Act.
``electoral district'' « circonscrip- tion »	``electoral district'' means any place or territorial area entitled to return a member to serve in the House of Commons.
``judge'' « juge »	``judge'' has the meaning given to it by subsection 2(1) of the Canada Elections Act.
``list of electors'' « liste des électeurs » ou « liste électorale »	``list of electors'' means either the preliminary list of electors or the official list of electors, as the context requires.
``promoter'' « parrain »	``promoter'', in relation to an indicative referendum petition, means the person who is the promoter of the petition under section 8.
``referendum petition'' « pétition référendaire »	``referendum petition'' means a petition seeking the holding under this Act of an indicative referendum and includes the forms on which the signatures of the signatories are recorded.
``Speaker'' « président »	``Speaker'' means the Speaker of the House of Commons.
``voter'' « votant »	``voter'' means a person who votes at an election.
``working day'' « jour ouvrable »	``working day'' means any day other than
	(a) a Saturday, a Sunday or a holiday or legal holiday under the Holidays Act; or
	(b) any day in the period commencing with the 25th day of December in any year and ending with the 15th day of January in the following year.
Effect of referendum	3. (1) A legislative proposal that has been approved by electors by a majority vote in a referendum shall be deemed to have passed second reading in the House of Commons and shall be referred to such committee as the House may order for consideration and report to the House.
Constitu- tional amendments	(2) The following shall be deemed to have been introduced as a motion in the House of Commons and shall be debated in the House no later than the fifteenth day on which the House sits following the referendum and put to the question no later than the tenth day thereafter on which the House sits:
	(a) an amendment to any part of the Constitution of Canada that may be amended pursuant to subsection 38(1) or section 42 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and that has been approved by electors by a majority vote and by a majority vote in at least two-thirds of the provinces that have, in the aggregate, according to the then latest general census, at least fifty per cent of the population of all the provinces;
	(b) an amendment to any part of the Constitution of Canada that may be amended pursuant to section 41 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and that has been approved by electors by a majority vote in each province in a referendum;
	(c) an amendment to any part of the Constitution of Canada that may be amended pursuant to section 43 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and that has been approved by electors by a majority vote in each province to which the amendment applies; and
	(d) an amendment to any part of the Constitution of Canada that may be amended pursuant to section 44 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and that has been approved by electors by a majority vote.
Wording of questions on ballot	4. (1) A referendum question related to a legislative proposal shall be worded: ``Do you support'', followed by the long title of the legislative proposal and a question mark.
Section 33 of the Charter of Rights	(2) Where a legislative proposal invokes section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, in that it proposes a law notwithstanding certain other provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the question on the ballot must include the following, to be inserted in the space between the question mark and the space in which the elector will make a mark: ``This Bill includes a provision to invoke section 33 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (the Notwithstanding Clause)''.
Spending public funds	(3) Where a legislative proposal provides for the appropriation of the public revenue, or of any tax or impost, the question on the ballot must include the following, to be inserted in the space between the question mark and the space in which the elector will make a mark:
	``This proposal will cause the Government of Canada to increase spending by $ ________ per year, starting in ________ and continuing for ________ years.''
	or, where the appropriation is expected to con tinue indefinitely,
	``It is estimated that this legislative proposal will cause the Government of Canada to increase spending by $ ________ per year, starting in ________ and continuing indefinitely.''
Savings	(4) Where a legislative proposal would have the effect of causing government funds to be expended, but would also cause other funds, currently being expended, to be saved, such savings shall be subtracted from any increases in spending to produce a net figure in the statement described in subsection (3).
Crown liability	(5) Where a legislative proposal would have the effect of causing the Government of Canada to underwrite a liability or a contingent liability, the question on the ballot shall include the following, to be inserted in the space between the question mark and the space in which the elector will make a mark:
	``It has been estimated that this legislative proposal will cause the Government of Canada to underwrite a liability of $ ________ by the year ________.'',
	where the year listed is the year at which the liability or contingent liability is projected to be at a maximum.
Constitu- tional amendments	(6) A legislative proposal that is a constitutional amendment shall be referred to as such in the question.
Where estimates not made	(7) If a question that purports to appropriate public funds is presented to the Chief Electoral Officer by the promoter without the estimates of expenditure or liability mentioned in subsections (3), (4) and (5), for every year that the legislative proposal would cause expenditure or liability, the question shall not be placed on the ballot.
Estimates added	(8) The estimates of expenditure or liability submitted to the Chief Electoral Officer shall be added to the text of the legislative proposal as the first section of the legislative proposal.
Estimates made by proponent	(9) The monetary and time estimates mentioned in subsections (3), (4) and (5) shall be provided by the person making the proposal under section 7.
	REFERENDUM PETITION
Proposal for referendum petition	5. A proposal to promote a referendum petition seeking the holding of a referendum in accordance with this Act may be submitted to the House of Commons by any elector in accordance with section 7.
Contents of referendum petition	6. (1) A referendum petition shall ask that a referendum be held and shall specify the question to be put to the voters in the referendum.
One question	(2) Neither a referendum petition nor a referendum may deal with more than one question.
Proposal to promote referendum petition	7. (1) A person who proposes to promote a referendum petition shall submit the proposal to the Clerk.
Content of proposal	(2) The proposal shall be accompanied by a draft of the proposed referendum petition and the text of the legislative proposal.
Content of proposal	(3) The proposal shall state
	(a) the name of the proposer;
	(b) an address in Canada at which the proponent or a representative of the proponent can be contacted in relation to the proposal; and
	(c) where a representative of the proponent is the person to be contracted, the name of that representative.
Notice	8. (1) Within twenty working days after receiving a proposal under section 7, the Clerk shall determine whether the submission complies with section 7 and, if it so complies, shall publish in the Canada Gazette a notice that the proposal is approved.
Rejected proposals	(2) The Clerk shall reject any proposal
	(a) that does not comply with section 7; or
	(b) where the proposed legislation is unintelligible, trivial or too vague to be given effect to or proposed in a spirit of mockery.
Content of publication	(3) A notice mentioned in subsection (1) shall specify the name of the person who submitted to the Clerk the proposal to promote the referendum petition, who shall be identified as the person approved to promote the petition for proposed legislation for the purposes of the referendum petition and the question to be put to voters in the proposed referendum.
Promotion of approved petition	9. (1) A person whose proposal to promote a referendum petition is approved by the Clerk may circulate and promote the petition for the purposes of this Act.
Require- ments in relation to referendum	(2) Every person signing a referendum petition shall write legibly by the signature the full name, the address that qualifies the signatory as an elector and the date of the signature.
Time limit	(3) The promoter shall deliver the referendum petition to the Clerk of the House of Commons within 12 months after the date of the publication in the Canada Gazette of the notice published pursuant to subsection 8(1).
Time limit	(4) A promoter, on delivering a referendum petition to the Clerk, shall give the number of pages and the number of signatures per full page and shall identify every page on which there are fewer signatures and give the number on every such page.
Additional pages	(5) Subject to sections 13 and 16, no pages or signatures shall be added to a referendum petition after it has been delivered to the Clerk.
Lapsed petition	(6) A referendum petition shall lapse if it is not delivered to the Clerk of the House of Commons within the time prescribed by subsection (3).
Language of petition forms	10. A petition form may be circulated in either English or French or in both official languages.
Who may circulate a petition	11. (1) A petition may be circulated by any Canadian citizen.
Electronic means	(2) A blank petition form may be circulated electronically or by mail, but a completed petition form must be delivered with original signatures.
Duties of Clerk	12. (1) The Clerk shall, within twenty working days after receiving a referendum petition,
	(a) check whether all the signatures are on forms supplied by the promoter that have on them the proposed legislation approved by the Clerk; and
	(b) check whether the promoter has complied with the requirements of this Act.
Defects	(2) Where the Clerk finds
	(a) that the signatures are not all on forms supplied by the promoter and approved by the Clerk, or
	(b) that any of the provisions of this Act have not been complied with in relation to the petition,
	the Clerk shall return to the promoter any part of the petition that does not comply.
Duties of promoter in relation to defects	13. (1) Where, under subsection 12(2), any pages are returned to the promoter, the promoter shall, within sixty days after the date on which any part was returned
	(a) correct any defects identified by the Clerk and resulting from non-compliance with any of the provisions of subsection 9(2) of this Act; and
	(b) return the corrected pages to the Clerk.
Review	(2) Where the corrected pages are returned within the time allowed by subsection (1), the signatures on the pages shall be reviewed by the Clerk to ascertain whether the referendum petition can be certified correct and the Clerk shall notify the promoter.
Lapse	(3) Where the corrected pages are not returned within the time allowed by subsection (1), the referendum petition sent for correction shall lapse and the Clerk shall notify the promoter.
Certification of referendum petition	14. (1) Where the Clerk receives a referendum petition or a corrected referendum petition that complies with subsection 9(2), the Clerk shall, within two months after the date of receipt of the referendum petition or the corrected referendum petition, as the case may be, either
	(a) certify that the referendum petition is correct and give it to the Speaker; or
	(b) certify that the referendum petition has lapsed and return it to the promoter.
Certification by Clerk	(2) A referendum petition shall be certified correct by the Clerk if the Clerk is satisfied, in accordance with section 15, that the petition has been signed by a number of electors representing not less than three per cent of the total votes cast in the most recent general election and that the signatures were dated after the publication in the Canada Gazette of the notice required by subsection 8(1).
Procedure in relation to certification	15. (1) For the purpose of the certification under subsection 14(2), the Clerk shall take, at random, five thousand names and addresses from those who signed the petition and submit them to the Chief Electoral Officer.
Names checked	(2) The Chief Electoral Officer shall check how many of the names and addresses represent eligible electors and how many are duplications and shall inform the Clerk of the result.
Eligible number checked	(3) The Clerk shall then, by applying the proportion of the names submitted under subsection (1) that were different eligible electors to the total number of signatories, determine whether or not the referendum petition has been signed in accordance with subsection 14(2).

Bill C-277

BILL C-277

REFERENDUM PETITION