The Electoral System of Canada

Appendices

Appendix 1: Evolution of the federal electoral system

The following is an overview of selected key dates and important milestones in the evolution of the federal electoral system. The reader is invited to consult A History of the Vote in Canada, Second edition (available at www.elections.ca) for a much more detailed analysis, including a timeline of historical events starting in the early years of the colonial era.

1867 At the first general election after Confederation in 1867, only a small minority of the population, largely composed of male British subjects with real property of a certain value, can vote in a country that has just four provinces, represented by 181 members of Parliament.

1874 The Dominion Elections Act brings in the use of the secret ballot and the practice of holding a general election on the same day in all electoral districts.

Candidates are required to report their election expenses, but no enforcement mechanisms are provided.

1885 Parliament draws up a complicated federal franchise, based on property ownership. The rules differ from town to town and from province to province.

1898 The government returns control of the right to vote in federal elections to the provinces.

1908 Direct contributions from corporations to candidates are prohibited, but since the law does not recognize political parties, and without any requirements to disclose the source of political contributions, this principle remains unenforceable.

1915 The First World War brings important changes to the federal franchise. In 1915, the right to vote is granted to military personnel on active service.

1917 Parliament once more takes over responsibility for preparing the voters lists, through the War-time Elections Act and the Military Voters Act. The right to vote is extended to all British subjects, women and men, who are active or retired members of the armed forces, including First Nations people and persons under 21 years of age.

1918 The franchise at federal elections is extended to women 21 years of age or over.

1919 Women become eligible for election to the House of Commons.

1920 The Dominion Elections Act restores control of the right to vote in federal elections to the federal government. The Act also creates the office of Chief Electoral Officer of Canada and establishes advance polling for certain categories of voters.

Other legislative changes include a new requirement for candidates to disclose the names of their contributors and the amount of the contributions they receive; candidates' financial officers must submit a report on spending within two months following the day of the vote, and there is a $500 fine for failing to submit it. Returning officers must publish a summary of these reports in local newspapers.

The prohibition for corporations to make contributions is extended to all companies and associations, whether or not they are incorporated.

1929 A legislative amendment establishes Monday as federal election day.

1930 The government of R. B. Bennett introduces a permanent list of electors in an effort to replace enumeration, but abandons the approach after one election as impractical and expensive.

The restrictions on contributions from corporations are abandoned.

1948 The last of the property ownership requirements for voting are abolished, and the right to vote is extended to all Canadians of Asian origin.

1950 Inuit people obtain the right to vote.

1955 The last vestiges of religious restrictions on the franchise are abolished.

1960 Status Indians are no longer required to give up their status to vote in federal elections. The right to vote at advance polls is extended to all Canadians absent from their polling divisions on election day.

1964 The Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act receives royal assent and entrusts the redistribution of electoral boundaries to independent boundary commissions. Redistribution remains a decennial exercise, as set out in the Constitution Act of 1867.

1970 The voting age and the age of candidacy are lowered from 21 to 18 years.

Civil servants posted abroad and their dependants, as well as dependants of military personnel, become entitled to use the voting method previously reserved for the military.

Political parties are required to register with the Chief Electoral Officer to obtain the right to have their names on the ballot paper under the names of their candidates. To be eligible, political parties must endorse candidates in at least 50 ridings in a general election and present at least 100 signatures of electors who are members of the party.

1974 The Election Expenses Act introduces a comprehensive set of controls over election expenses and financing. The legislation sets spending limits for candidates, and requires public disclosure of all contributions exceeding $100 to political parties and candidates. Public funding measures are introduced through partial reimbursement of election expenses, tax credits for political contributions and the allocation of free broadcasting time among political parties. To enforce these provisions, the Act also creates the position of Commissioner of Election Expenses. Third party advertising is prohibited.

1977 A legislative amendment broadens the mandate of the Commissioner of Election Expenses, who becomes the Commissioner of Canada Elections, responsible for the enforcement of all provisions of the Canada Elections Act.

1982 The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms defines constitutional rights and freedoms, including the freedom of opinion and expression, the universal right to vote and to be a candidate in a legislative election, and the right to equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. These rights and freedoms are subject only to reasonable limits, prescribed by law, that can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society.

1983 The ban on third party advertising is lifted, but restrictions apply on allowable expenses. Every person, other than a candidate or an official agent, who incurs election expenses becomes guilty of an offence under the Canada Elections Act.

1992 The Referendum Act is passed to provide a legal and administrative framework for conducting federal referendums on any question related to the Constitution of Canada.

Parliament passes amendments to the Canada Elections Act to improve access to the electoral process for persons with disabilities. These include requirements for mobile polls at institutions where seniors or persons with disabilities reside; level access at all ordinary polling stations and, where this is not possible, the use of transfer certificates; and a template for use by electors who are visually impaired.

1993 Parliament passes legislation to allow inmates serving sentences of less than two years to vote. The right to vote is also extended to judges and persons with a mental disability.

The Canada Elections Act is also modified to allow Canadians to vote by special ballot if they cannot go to their regular or advance polls. The ballot can be used by students away from home, travelling vacationers and business people, and those temporarily outside the country (for less than five years).

Other changes authorize registration at urban polls on election day (previously allowed only for rural voters), shorten the minimum election period from 50 to 47 days and ban the publication and broadcasting of opinion polls during the last three days of a campaign.

A cap of $1,000 is imposed on a third party's election advertising.

1996 Amendments to the Canada Elections Act introduce a permanent register of electors and eliminate door-to-door enumeration for federal elections, referendums and by-elections.

The general election and by-election period is shortened from a minimum of 45 days to 36 days.

Voting hours on polling day are staggered and extended so that most of the results are available at approximately the same time across the country.

2000 A new Canada Elections Act modernizes the organization and terminology of the electoral legislation, and introduces new controls on election advertising by third parties (persons or groups who are not candidates for office, registered political parties or their electoral district associations).

The new Act prohibits election advertising and the publication of new election opinion poll results on election day.

It also authorizes the Commissioner of Canada Elections to enter into compliance agreements and, where necessary, to obtain court injunctions.

The Act also mandates the Chief Electoral Officer to develop and test electronic voting procedures.

Third parties are required to register with the Chief Electoral Officer and disclose their election advertising expenses.

2001 Further to a court case, the number of confirmed candidates required for a political party to be entitled to have its name on the ballot is reduced from 50 to 12.

2004 Legislative amendments bring significant and comprehensive changes to the rules regulating political financing. They introduce limits on political contributions by individuals, and henceforth prohibit corporations and trade unions from contributing to registered parties or leadership contestants. The expenses of nomination contestants are capped. Registration requirements are extended to electoral district associations, which may also be de-registered. Financial reporting rules are extended to apply to all political entities governed by the Act, that is, persons or entities that have to register with the Chief Electoral Officer. Registered political parties that obtain a certain number of valid votes, nationwide or at the riding level, become eligible for public allowances. Tax credits for political contributions are also augmented.

Subsequently, the political party registration system is amended to lower the minimum number of candidates required from 50 to 1. The new legislation also introduces the first legal definition of a political party, along with a series of new administrative requirements for party registration.

2006 Legislative amendments introduced as part of the Federal Accountability Act further restrict political donations and make other changes to the Canada Elections Act intended to increase the transparency of the electoral process and better control the influence of money on elections. The Act amends the rules for political contributions, gifts and the use of trust funds, the appointment of returning officers and the prosecution process.

Contributions

• Only citizens and permanent residents of Canada may make donations to registered political entities.



• Donations are capped at $1,100 (indexed for inflation) per calendar year to each registered political party, the various entities of each registered party (registered associations, nomination contestants and candidates), each independent candidate for a particular election and the contestants in a particular leadership contest.



• Cash contributions to registered political entities are limited to $20.



• Corporations, trade unions, associations and groups may no longer make political contributions.



• The new restrictions and prohibitions came into force on January 1, 2007.

Political gifts and trust funds

• Candidates cannot accept any gift (other than contributions to their campaigns) that might be seen to influence them as eventual members of Parliament, although they may accept a gift from a relative or as a normal expression of courtesy or protocol.



• Candidates must report to the Chief Electoral Officer the name and address of every person (other than a relative) or organization from whom they receive a gift or gifts worth more than $500 while a candidate, the nature of the gift and the circumstances under which it was given.



• Registered parties and registered electoral district associations may no longer transfer trust funds to candidates of the party.



• These provisions will come into force on June 12, 2007.

Returning officers

• The Chief Electoral Officer is responsible for appointing a returning officer for each electoral district. Appointments are made on the basis of merit, when the Chief Electoral Officer is satisfied that the person meets the essential qualifications to perform the work. Returning officers are appointed for a term of 10 years, but may be removed for reasons set out in the Act.



• The new appointment process for returning officers came into force on February 10, 2007.

Prosecution

• A prosecution for an offence under the Canada Elections Act must start within 5 years after the day when the Commissioner became aware of the facts giving rise to the prosecution, and no later than 10 years after the day the offence was committed.



• The Director of Public Prosecutions is responsible for initiating and conducting prosecutions for offences under the Canada Elections Act. The Commissioner of Canada Elections remains responsible for compliance agreements and enforcing the Act through the use of injunctions to prevent or stop violations of the law during an election period.



• These provisions came into force in December 2006.

Appendix 2: Distribution of House of Commons seats, 1867–2006

Appendix 3: Canadian parliaments, 1867–2006

Appendix 4: Canadian Prime Ministers, 1867–2006

Appendix 5: Statistics on voter turnout, 1867–2006

1. Generally, percentages are calculated based on the number of registered electors. However, presenting these figures involves several challenges, in part because the data of official election results since Confederation have not been reported consistently, and in part due to variations in the electoral system itself. For instance, in the case of an election by acclamation, the number of registered electors on the lists for that electoral district was not always included in the total number of registered electors. In other cases, lists of electors were not prepared for some districts, and even for Prince Edward Island as a whole, for several elections. Moreover, until 1966, a number of electoral districts were dual-member constituencies. As each elector could vote for more than one candidate, the reported number of votes cast (valid and rejected ballots together) was higher than it would have been in a single-member scenario. In these cases, the total number of votes was divided by the number of members elected.



2. In early elections, polling took place over several weeks or even months.



3. This was a referendum.



4. Does not include Quebec, which conducted its own referendum based on provincial legislation.



5. This percentage rises to 70.9 when the number of electors on the lists is adjusted to account for electors who had moved or died between the enumeration for the 1992 referendum and the election of 1993, for which a separate enumeration was not carried out, except in Quebec, as the 1992 electoral lists were reused.



6. The turnout of 61.2 percent in 2000 was adjusted to arrive at the final turnout of 64.1 percent, after the maintenance of the National Register of Electors to remove the names of deceased electors and duplicates arising from moves.

Sources: Reports of the Clerk of the Crown in Chancery (1867–1917); reports of the Chief Electoral Officer (1921–2006); unpublished summary data prepared by Elections Canada; R. Pomfret, The Economic Development of Canada (1987); H. A. Scarrow, Canada Votes (1962); Contact (1985).

Appendix 6: Map of Canada, 2006

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