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

Marginal note:Inspection of instructions and other reports

• 541 (1) All documents referred to in section 359, 432, 437, 475.4, 476.75, 477.59 or 478.8, all other reports or statements, other than election documents received from election officers, all instructions issued by the Chief Electoral Officer under this Act and all decisions by him or her on points arising under this Act are public records and may be inspected by any person on request during business hours.

• Marginal note:Extracts

  (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.

• Marginal note:Evidence

  (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.

Marginal note:Statements of electors who exercise their right to vote

541.1 The Chief Electoral Officer shall, within 180 days after the return of the writ, make available in electronic form, or in formats that include electronic form, to each candidate and to each registered party that endorsed a candidate in an electoral district a statement, prepared using documents prepared under paragraph 162(i.1), of electors who exercised their right to vote in the electoral district on polling day who can be identified using those documents.

Fees and Expenses of Election Officers

Marginal note:Tariff

• 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.

• Marginal note:Treasury Board directive

  (1.1) The tariff may incorporate by reference any Treasury Board directive regarding travel and living expenses, as it is amended from time to time.

• Marginal note:Effective date

  (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.

• Marginal note:Copy to House of Commons

  (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.

• Marginal note:Payment of additional sums

  (4) If it appears to the Chief Electoral Officer that the fees, costs, allowances and expenses provided for by a tariff under subsection (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 Chief Electoral Officer may authorize the payment of any sum or additional sum for the services or materials that he or she considers just and reasonable.

Marginal note:Payment of claims

543 All claims that relate to the conduct of an election shall be paid by electronic payment credited to the accounts of persons who are entitled to payment or by separate cheques issued from the office of the Receiver General and sent directly to such persons.

Marginal note:Accountable advance

• 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).

• Marginal note:Preparation of accounts

  (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.

545 [Repealed, 2014, c. 12, s. 121]

Marginal note:Taxation of accounts

• 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.

• Marginal note:Rights saved

  (2) Despite subsection (1), the rights, if any, of claimants to compel payment or further payment by process of law remain unimpaired.

Notice

Marginal note:Giving of notices

• 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.

• Marginal note:Posting of notices, etc.

  (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.

Marginal note:Prohibition — removal of notices

• 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.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (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).

Solemn Declarations and Affidavits

Marginal note:Administration of solemn declarations and affidavits

• 549 (1) Solemn declarations and affidavits referred to in this Act are to be received by the person who by this Act is expressly required to receive them 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, an election officer, a unit election officer as defined in section 177, a notary public, a provincial court judge, a justice of the peace or a commissioner for taking oaths in the province.

• Marginal note:No fees for solemn declaration or affidavit

  (2) All solemn declarations and affidavits received under this Act are to be received free of charge.

• Marginal note:Making false declaration in solemn declaration or affidavit

  (3) No person shall make a false declaration in a solemn declaration or affidavit that is provided for by this Act.

• Marginal note:Compelling or inducing false declaration

  (4) No person shall compel, induce or attempt to compel or induce any other person to make a false declaration in a solemn declaration or affidavit that is provided for by this Act.

Marginal note:Solemn declaration — voting

• 549.1 (1) For the purposes of subsections 143(3) and (3.2), sections 144 and 147 and paragraphs 161(1)(b) and 169(2)(b), the solemn declaration by which an elector proves his or her identity and residence, proves his or her residence only, proves that he or she is qualified as an elector or proves that he or she has not previously voted at the election shall be in the prescribed form, which shall include the statements that

  • (a) the elector resides at the address at which he or she claims to reside;

  • (b) the elector is 18 years of age or older or will be 18 years of age or older on polling day;

  • (c) the elector is a Canadian citizen; and

  • (d) the elector has not previously voted in the election and is not an elector to whom section 235 applies.

• Marginal note:Solemn declaration — vouching for another elector

  (2) For the purposes of paragraph 143(3)(b) and subparagraphs 161(1)(b)(ii) and 169(2)(b)(ii), the solemn declaration by which an elector vouches for another elector shall be in the prescribed form, which shall include the statements that

  • (a) the other elector resides in a polling division assigned to the polling station;

  • (b) to the best of the elector’s knowledge, the other elector has not previously voted at the election;

  • (c) the elector knows the other elector;

  • (d) the elector is a Canadian citizen when the other elector votes;

  • (e) except in a case referred to in subsection 143(3.01), 161(2) or 169(2.01), the elector has not previously vouched for any other elector at the election; and

  • (f) the elector has not been vouched for by another elector at the election.

Signed Pledges by Candidates Prohibited

Marginal note:Signed pledges by candidates prohibited

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.

By-Elections

Marginal note:Notice of withdrawal of writ

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.

Forms

Marginal note:Tabling of forms

552 Each form established for the purposes of paragraph 432(1)(a) or 437(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.

Payments out of Consolidated Revenue Fund

Marginal note:Amounts to be paid out of C.R.F.

553 The following shall be paid out of unappropriated moneys forming part of the Consolidated Revenue Fund:

• (a) any amount payable under section 15;

• (b) the remuneration paid to a person engaged or employed under section 20, any remuneration paid to staff referred to in section 19 for overtime work to enable the Chief Electoral Officer to exercise his or her powers and perform his or her duties and functions under this Act and any administration expenses that are incurred for that purpose;

• (c) any expenses incurred by the Chief Electoral Officer to acquire information referred to in paragraph 46(1)(b);

• (d) any fees, costs, allowances or expenses referred to in subsection 542(1) or (4);

• (e) any expenses incurred by the Chief Electoral Officer for preparing and printing election material and for the purchase of election supplies.

• (f) [Repealed, 2014, c. 12, s. 123]

Amendments

Marginal note:Application of amendments to subsequent election

• 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.

• Marginal note:Amendments

  (2) It is the duty of the Chief Electoral Officer immediately after the coming into force of an amendment to this Act to publish a consolidated version of this Act on the Chief Electoral Officer’s Internet site, to correct and reprint all forms and instructions affected by it and to publish a notice in the Canada Gazette as soon as the consolidated version has been so published and the forms and instructions have been so corrected and reprinted.