Canada Elections Act (S.C. 2000, c. 9)

Merger of Registered Parties

Marginal note:Attribution of votes for appointments

42 For the purposes of subsection 33(3) and section 41, in a case in which a registered party that endorsed a candidate in the last election merges with one or more parties that were registered parties at the last election,

• (a) the merged party is deemed to have endorsed a candidate in the last election in the electoral district; and

• (b) that candidate is deemed to have received the same number of votes as the candidate who, among the candidates of the merging parties, received the largest number of votes at that election.

Prohibitions

Marginal note:Prohibitions

43 No person shall

• (a) knowingly obstruct an election officer in the exercise of his or her powers or the performance of his or her duties;

• (b) without authority, use identification simulating that used by an election officer or intended to replace that prescribed by the Chief Electoral Officer for that purpose; or

• (c) having been removed or replaced as an election officer, fail to return any election documents or election materials in his or her possession to the returning officer or to an authorized person.

Marginal note:Right of access

• 43.1 (1) No person who is in control of an apartment building, condominium building or other multiple-residence building or a gated community shall prevent an election officer or a member of the staff of a returning officer from obtaining access to the building or gated community, as the case may be, between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., to exercise his or her powers or perform his or her duties under this Act.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (2) Subsection (1) does not apply in respect of a person who is in control of a multiple-residence building whose residents’ physical or emotional well-being may be harmed as a result of permitting the activities referred to in that subsection.

PART 4Register of Electors and Register of Future Electors

Maintenance and Communication

Marginal note:Maintenance of Registers

• 44 (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall maintain

  • (a) a register of persons who are qualified as electors, to be known as the Register of Electors; and

  • (b) a register of persons who are qualified as future electors, to be known as the Register of Future Electors.

• Marginal note:Contents of Registers

  (2) The Register of Electors and the Register of Future Electors shall contain, for each elector or future elector who is included in it, as the case may be, his or her surname, given names, gender, date of birth, civic address, mailing address and any other information that is provided under subsections 49(2), 211.2(4), 223(2), 233(2) and 251(3).

• Marginal note:Identifier

  (3) The Register of Electors and the Register of Future Electors shall also contain, for each elector or future elector, as the case may be, a unique, randomly generated identifier that is assigned by the Chief Electoral Officer.

• Marginal note:Future electors becoming electors

  (4) Subject to subsection (5), the Register of Future Electors may continue to contain information about a former future elector after he or she becomes an elector until he or she is included in the Register of Electors.

• Marginal note:Inclusion optional

  (5) Inclusion in the Register of Electors and the Register of Future Electors is optional.

• Marginal note:Parental consent not necessary

  (6) A future elector’s inclusion in the Register of Future Electors does not require the consent of the future elector’s parents or guardian or tutor.

Marginal note:Lists to members and registered parties

• 45 (1) By November 15 in each year, the Chief Electoral Officer shall make available to the member for each electoral district and, on request, to each registered party that endorsed a candidate in the electoral district in the last election, a copy — taken from the Register of Electors — in electronic form, or in formats that include electronic form, of the lists of electors for the electoral district.

• Marginal note:Contents of lists of electors

  (2) The lists of electors shall set out each elector’s surname, given names, civic address and mailing address, and the identifier that is assigned to the elector by the Chief Electoral Officer and shall be arranged in the form established by the Chief Electoral Officer according to the civic addresses of the electors or, if that is not appropriate, in alphabetical order by their surnames.

• Marginal note:Exception

  (3) This section does not apply if November 15 falls during an election period or if the vote at a general election was held during the six months before that date.

• Marginal note:Merger of parties

  (4) For the purpose of subsection (1), a registered party that is the result of a merger of two or more registered parties is deemed to have endorsed a candidate in the last election if one of the merging parties so endorsed a candidate.

Updates

Marginal note:Sources of information

• 46 (1) The Register of Electors and the Register of Future Electors shall be updated from

  • (a) information

    • (i) that electors or future electors, as the case may be, have given the Chief Electoral Officer, or

    • (ii) that is held by a federal department or body and that electors or future electors, as the case may be, have expressly authorized to be given to the Chief Electoral Officer; and

  • (b) information that the Chief Electoral Officer considers reliable and necessary for updating the surname, given names, gender, date of birth, civic address and mailing address of electors and future electors included in the Register of Electors or Register of Future Electors, as the case may be, and that

    • (i) is held under an Act of the legislature of a province mentioned in Schedule 2, or

    • (ii) comes from any other source mentioned in Schedule 2.

• Marginal note:Source of information: Register of Future Electors

  (1.01) The Register of Electors shall be updated from information that the Chief Electoral Officer holds in the Register of Future Electors about future electors who become electors.

• Marginal note:Retention of certain information

  (1.1) The Chief Electoral Officer may retain information collected under paragraph (1)(b), but not included in the Register of Electors or Register of Future Electors, for the purpose of correlating information subsequently collected with information already contained in the relevant register.

• Marginal note:Amendments to Schedule 2

  (2) The Chief Electoral Officer may at any time amend Schedule 2 by adding, changing or deleting the name of an Act of the legislature of a province or of any other source of information, but no such amendment comes into force until notice of it is published in the Canada Gazette.

Marginal note:Information from Minister of Citizenship and Immigration

46.01 Despite subparagraph 46(1)(a)(ii), for the purpose of assisting the Chief Electoral Officer in updating the Register of Electors, including by deleting the name of a person who is not an elector, the Minister of Citizenship and Immigration may, at the request of the Chief Electoral Officer in writing, provide the Chief Electoral Officer with any of the following information, in relation to a person, that is contained in databases maintained by the Department of Citizenship and Immigration that relate to permanent residents and foreign nationals as those terms are defined in subsection 2(1) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act and with the date when the information referred to in paragraph (d) was included or updated in those databases:

• (a) his or her surname and given names;

• (b) his or her gender;

• (c) his or her date of birth;

• (d) his or her addresses; and

• (e) any unique identifier that that Minister has assigned to him or her under that Act.

Marginal note:Citizenship information

46.1 For the purpose of assisting the Chief Electoral Officer in updating the Register of Electors or Register of Future Electors, the Minister of National Revenue may, on a return of income referred to in subsection 150(1) of the Income Tax Act, request that an individual who is filing a return of income under paragraph 150(1)(d) of that Act indicate in the return whether he or she is a Canadian citizen.

Marginal note:Information in respect of deceased individuals

46.2 For the purpose of updating the Register of Electors or Register of Future Electors, the Minister of National Revenue shall, at the request of the Chief Electoral Officer, provide the name, date of birth and address of any individual to whom paragraph 150(1)(b) of the Income Tax Act applies if that individual has, in his or her last return of income filed under paragraph 150(1)(d) of that Act, authorized that Minister to provide his or her name, date of birth and address to the Chief Electoral Officer for the relevant register.

Marginal note:Duty of returning officer

47 During the election period, each returning officer shall update the Register of Electors from the information that he or she obtains under this Act, other than information in relation to an elector with respect to whom an application has been granted under subsection 233(1.1).

Marginal note:Other duties

47.1 Between election periods, a returning officer shall perform any duties related to the updating of the Register of Electors or Register of Future Electors that are requested by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Marginal note:Adding electors and future electors

• 48 (1) The Chief Electoral Officer shall, before including an elector in the Register of Electors or a future elector in the Register of Future Electors, send him or her the Chief Electoral Officer’s information relating to him or her and ask if he or she wishes to be included in the relevant register.

• Marginal note:Obligation of elector or future elector

  (2) An elector or future elector who wishes to be included in the relevant register shall confirm, correct or complete the information, in writing, and give it to the Chief Electoral Officer along with a signed certification that he or she is qualified as an elector or as a future elector, as the case may be.

• Marginal note:Exceptions

  (3) This section does not apply in respect of the inclusion of an elector or future elector that is

  • (a) done at his or her request;

  • (b) done using information from lists of electors or future electors established under provincial law that contain information that the Chief Electoral Officer considers sufficient for the elector’s or future elector’s inclusion; or

  • (c) done using information to update the Register of Electors under subsection 46(1.01).