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Cost for pandemic measuresCEO Appearance on Bill C-19, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19 response)

Fact Sheet

Key Messages

  • A general election will cost significantly more during a pandemic. Costs will also depend on the timing of the election and the nature of any legislative changes adopted.
  • The costs for the primary safety measures such as personal protective equipment, vote by mail services and voter information campaign are estimated at $50M (excluding Bill C-19 measures).
  • The costs for other changes to field operations such as to increase some workers' capacity and office footprint, are not included in this estimate.

Facts

Items (Qty) High Level Estimate
($M)
Physical Barriers for Voting (125,000) $3.3
Masks (18.5 million) $3.1
Headsets (11,000) $1.4
Face shields (411,000) $0.6
Gloves (4.1 million) $0.5
Bottle of 160 Wipes (40,000) $0.4
Pencils (16 million regular, 4 million large) $0.4
Transparent Face Masks (290,000) $0.3
PPE Preparing and Shipping $3.9
Material $14.1
Extra hours and workers at RO's Service Centres $15.7
Mail-out of ballot kits and pre-paid returns (5.5 million) $10.6
IT Adaptive Measures (incl. EFOS - RO Office computers) $2.9
Envelopes $1.1
Special Ballot Vote by Mail Services $30.2
Voter Information Campaign $4.0
Voter Information Cards (contingency postage) $1.0
Other IT Adaptive Measures $0.9
Total to Date $50.2