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Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 40th General Election of October 14, 2008


Appendix 1: Tables

Table 1 – List of electoral staff positions for the 40th general election
Position Number of positions filled*
Additional assistant returning officer
120
Assistant automation coordinator
333
Automation coordinator
320
Assistant returning officer
308
Community relations officer
554
Central poll supervisor**
14,662
Deputy returning officer**
80,615
Financial officer
342
Information officer
19,030
Interpreter – Aboriginal Elder and Youth Program
338
Interpreter, language
52
Inventory clerk
718
Judicial recount clerk
247
Office clerk
8,334
Office coordinator
533
Office messenger
998
Poll clerk
72,735
Receptionist
1,208
Recruitment officer
661
Registration officer**
18,644
Returning officer
308
Revising agent
10,301
Revision centre clerk
1,006
Revision supervisor
445
Special ballot coordinator
1,960
Special messenger
665
Support staff for office of additional assistant returning officer
72
Training officer
689
Witness – validation of results
182
Total
236,380

* With the exception of the positions of returning officer and assistant returning officer, all figures indicate the total number of specific positions filled by election workers during the election period. In some cases, more than one individual was hired to perform a given task – for example, because of staff changes or job sharing. In addition, some workers filled more than one position. The 236,380 positions listed thus were filled by 194,009 workers.

** Of the 113,921 central poll supervisors, deputy returning officers and registration officers, 5,752 (5 percent) were on standby to replace field staff if needed.

Data as of January 15, 2009.



Table 2 – Confirmed candidates and final registered party election expense limits
Political Affiliation Confirmed Candidates Final Election
Expense Limit
New Democratic Party
308 
$20,063,430.10
Conservative Party of Canada
307
$19,999,230.62
Liberal Party of Canada
307
$20,014,302.76
Green Party of Canada
303
$19,751,412.68
Bloc Québécois
75
$5,066,811.35
Independent
67
n/a
Christian Heritage Party of Canada
59
$3,789,711.98
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada
59
$4,109,588.81
Libertarian Party of Canada
26
$1,880,168.34
Communist Party of Canada
24
$1,599,036.86
Canadian Action Party
20
$1,312,843.11
Progressive Canadian Party
10
$706,935.92
Marijuana Party
8
$537,560.73
neorhino.ca
7
$481,352.40
First Peoples National Party of Canada
6
$291,658.89
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada
4
$272,020.62
No affiliation
4
n/a
Newfoundland and Labrador First Party*
3
$169,243.46
People's Political Power Party of Canada*
2
$91,748.49
Western Block Party
1
$76,810.64
Work Less Party*
1
$64,845.31
Total
1,601
 

* Registered status newly acquired for the 40th general election.

 

Table 3 – Allocation of broadcasting time
Political Party Paid Time (min:sec) Free Time (min:sec)
  CBC-TV CBC
Radio One
TVA
TQS
Conservative Party of Canada
95:30
51:30
29:00
15:00
Liberal Party of Canada
82:30
44:30
25:00
13:00
New Democratic Party
45:00
24:30
13:30
7:00
Bloc Québécois
37:30
20:30
11:30
6:00
Green Party of Canada
22:30
12:00
7:00
3:30
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada
10:00
5:30
3:00
1:30
Christian Heritage Party of Canada
9:30
5:00
3:00
1:30
Canadian Action Party
9:00
5:00
3:00
1:30
Progressive Canadian Party
9:00
5:00
3:00
1:30
Marijuana Party
9:00
5:00
3:00
1:30
Communist Party of Canada
8:30
4:30
2:30
1:30
Libertarian Party of Canada
8:00
4:30
2:30
1:00
First Peoples National Party of Canada
8:00
4:30
2:30
1:00
Western Block Party
8:00
4:30
2:30
1:00
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada
8:00
4:30
2:30
1:00
neorhino.ca
8:00
4:30
2:30
1:00
People's Political Power Party of Canada
6:00
3:00
2:00
1:00
Work Less Party
6:00
3:00
2:00
1:00
Newfoundland and Labrador First Party
6:00
3:00
2:00
1:00
Total (rounded)
396:00
214:00
120:00
62:00

Source: Broadcasting Guidelines, September 8, 2008.

 

Table 4 – Adaptations to the Canada Elections Act during the 40th general election
Statutory Provision Adapted Explanatory Notes
Sections 32, 39, 168, 169, 283, 284, 285, 287 Purpose: Allowed returning officers to appoint additional poll officials at advance polls where high turnouts were expected, and to appoint additional deputy returning officers and poll clerks, working in pairs, to assist in counting the votes from an advance poll if more than 750 electors voted at that poll.

Explanation: The Act does not provide for the appointment of additional deputy returning officers, poll clerks, registration officers and central poll supervisors for advance polls. The Act provides for the appointment of one deputy returning officer and one poll clerk for each advance poll, but does not provide for the appointment of additional deputy returning officers and poll clerks to count the vote at that poll. The Act did not foresee that a growing number of electors would make use of the right to vote at advance polls, thereby creating a need for additional officials at those polls.
Section 96 Purpose: Allowed the revisions made during superseded by-elections to be captured as revisions for the purposes of the general election.

Explanation: Revisions to the preliminary list of electors were completed for a number of electoral districts holding by-elections. These by-elections were superseded and the writs deemed withdrawn by the issue of the writs for a general election, but the revisions had not been incorporated into the National Register of Electors. Section 96 was amended by adding a provision that deemed revisions done prior to the deemed withdrawal of a writ were deemed to have been approved on the commencement date for the revision of the preliminary lists of electors for the general election.
Section 122 Purpose: Allowed returning officers who could not locate suitable premises for a polling station within a polling division to establish a polling station for that division in an adjacent electoral district.

Explanation: Section 122 permits a returning officer who is unable to locate suitable premises for a polling station within a polling division to locate the polling station in an adjacent polling division within the same electoral district. However, in the Ontario electoral district of Lanark–Frontenac–Lennox and Addington and the New Brunswick electoral district of Fundy Royal, suitable premises could not be found within an adjacent polling division in the same district, but could be found within an adjacent electoral district.
Section 143 Purpose: Allowed any candidate who was a member of Parliament immediately before the election or any elector who continued to live with the candidate and who was registered at an address other than that of his or her place of ordinary residence pursuant to paragraphs 10(b), (c) or (d) of the Act (often the address of the office of the returning officer) to vote without meeting the proof of residence requirement of the Act if the deputy returning officer was satisfied that the elector's identity had been proven.

Explanation: Without this adaptation, these electors would not have had authorized pieces of identification on polling day to prove their residence and would not have been in a position to satisfy the deputy returning officer that their identity and residence had been proven in accordance with subsections 143(2) or (3), and would have been deprived of their right to vote in another polling district, as provided for in section 10.
Section 175 Purpose: Allowed a ballot with a counterfoil that was not removed to be marked as a spoiled ballot when an elector was given a second ballot and voted again.

Explanation: The Act does not provide for an elector to receive a second ballot when the elector has already voted with a ballot for which the counterfoil was not removed. Section 175 was amended by adding a provision that deemed an identifiable ballot that was deposited in the ballot box with the counterfoil attached to have been marked as a spoiled ballot and treated as such.
Section 175 Purpose: Authorized the returning officer to recover, with staff assistance, ballot boxes in the custody of one or more deputy returning officers.

Explanation: There is no provision in the Act to allow the recovery of ballot boxes in the custody of deputy returning officers where the Chief Electoral Officer has reason to believe that there had been tampering with one or more ballot boxes.
Section 190 Purpose: Authorized the Special Voting Rules Administrator to extend the voting period for Canadian Forces electors who were performing military duties.

Explanation: A number of Canadian Forces electors would not have been able to exercise their right to vote during the voting period set out in the Act because of their military duties. The Act had to be adapted to allow these electors to vote.
Section 237 Purpose: Allowed a second special ballot voting kit to be issued by the local Elections Canada office, with the prior approval of the Special Voting Rules Administrator, to an elector who did not receive his or her special ballot voting kit by mail and who provided a statement signed under oath to that effect.

Explanation: The Act does not allow for a second special ballot voting kit to be issued to an elector by the local Elections Canada office. The adaptation by instruction was required in order to allow the elector to exercise his or her right to vote by special ballot.
Section 242 Purpose: Allowed electors who, by reason of erroneous instructions from an election officer, completed their special ballot by naming a political party rather than a candidate to ask for another special ballot, up to the close of polls on election day. Where such a request was made, the elector's first special ballot was not to be opened or counted but was to be marked as spoiled and set aside.

Explanation: Paragraph 279(1)(c) of the Act requires that a special ballot be rejected if it is marked with a name other than the name of a candidate. There is no provision in the Act whereby such ballots could be set aside as spoiled ballots and the electors could be given another ballot in the particular circumstance where the error occurred pursuant to the erroneous instructions of an election official.
Section 242 Purpose: Allowed an elector who, by reason of erroneous information from an election officer, completed a special ballot by naming a candidate other than the candidate of the elector's choice to ask for another special ballot, up to the close of polls on election day. Where such a request was made, the elector's first special ballot was not to be opened or counted but was to be marked as spoiled and set aside.

Explanation: An elector voting by special ballot was given erroneous information, resulting in an improperly marked ballot. Paragraph 279(1)(c) of the Act requires that a special ballot be rejected only if it is marked with a name other than the name of a candidate. There is no provision in the Act whereby a ballot marked with the name of a candidate not of the elector's choice could be set aside. The adaptation permitted the elector to request another special ballot, at which time the original, unopened special ballot envelope would be set aside.
Section 245 Purpose: Authorized the Special Voting Rules Administrator, with the prior approval of the Chief Electoral Officer, to set another day and time when incarcerated electors could vote.

Explanation: On the day provided in the Act for the vote by incarcerated electors, a lockdown of prisoners was ordered at the Établissement de détention Rivière-des-Prairies for security reasons when some 75 incarcerated electors who had registered to vote had not yet voted. Since the Act does not contain another mechanism to allow these electors to vote, the Act was adapted to allow the electors to vote on another day.
Section 245 Purpose: Allowed the Special Voting Rules Administrator, with the prior approval of the Chief Electoral Officer, to set another day and time when incarcerated electors could vote where they could not vote on the day of the vote of incarcerated electors pursuant to the Act because their applications for registration and special ballot were misplaced and never found.

Explanation: The applications for registration and special ballot of some 15 incarcerated electors in the Millhaven Assessment Unit were apparently misplaced and voting was completed at Millhaven Institution without these electors being admitted to vote. In order to give these electors the opportunity to complete an application for registration and special ballot and to vote, another day and time to vote had to be set.
Sections 246, 247 Purpose: Extended the statutory process for voting by the Special Voting Rules in provincial institutions to federal institutions.

Explanation: Because the Act formerly prohibited voting by prisoners in federal institutions, it does not describe a process for such prisoners to vote. Since the 2002 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in Sauvé struck down the prohibition, the Act has had to be adapted in every federal election to extend the statutory process for voting in provincial institutions to federal institutions.
Section 252 Purpose: Permitted special ballot officers to set aside special ballots cast by incarcerated electors, and omit their names from the list of electors, if the incarcerated elector specified the correctional institution as the place of ordinary residence.

Explanation: Incarcerated electors who vote using the Special Voting Rules are required to vote in the electoral district of their ordinary residence. The Act directs how that ordinary residence is to be determined. It cannot be the correctional institution in which the elector is imprisoned. Nevertheless, on the application for registration and special ballot, some incarcerated electors indicated the correctional institution as their ordinary residence. The special ballot envelopes had to be set aside to avoid having the ballots counted in the wrong electoral district. The Act contained no provision by which this could be done.
Section 267 Purpose: At the counting of the votes of national electors at the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, authorized the setting aside by a special ballot officer of an inner envelope that was not sent in an outer envelope.

Explanation: Where an elector sends a special ballot in an inner envelope that is not contained in an outer envelope providing information related to the elector, as required by the Special Voting Rules, it is not possible to ascertain the identity of and other information concerning the elector and to comply with the other requirements of the Act. The Act does not provide for a special ballot officer, at the counting of the votes at the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, to set aside an inner envelope that is not sent in an outer envelope.
Section 267 Purpose: Allowed national electors who had been registered by election officials to vote by special ballot in the wrong electoral district to have their original special ballots set aside and be allowed to vote again.

Explanation: The adaptation permitted that special ballot envelopes of national electors who were registered and voted in the wrong electoral districts be set aside unopened, and permitted these electors to vote again. Without the adaptation, the special ballot envelopes would have been set aside unopened, but the electors would not have been permitted to vote again.
Section 277 Purpose: Allowed national electors who had been registered by election officials to vote as local electors by special ballot in the wrong electoral district to have their original special ballots set aside and be allowed to vote again.

Explanation: The adaptation permitted that special ballot envelopes of local electors who were registered and voted in the wrong electoral districts be set aside unopened, and permitted these electors to vote again. Without the adaptation, the special ballot envelopes would have been set aside unopened, but the electors would not have been permitted to vote again.
Section 295 Purpose: Allowed the returning officer to use the information written on the envelopes that contained the ballots for validating the results of two polling divisions and an advance polling district as if they had been merged pursuant to section 108 of the Act.

Explanation: In the electoral district of Nunavut, the deputy returning officers of polling divisions 24A and 24B and advance polling district 608 erroneously counted the ballots for all three together, completed a single statement of the vote for them and sealed all of the ballots in a single series of envelopes, which were sealed in one ballot box. The Act was adapted to allow for this combined counting of the votes of different polling stations and an advance polling district to be reported as a single poll.

 

Table 5 – Instructions issued by the Chief Electoral Officer during the 40th general election, pursuant to section 179 of the Canada Elections Act
Statutory Provision Explanatory Notes
Part 11, Division 2

Canadian Forces Electors
Purpose: Instruction authorizing the Special Voting Rules Administrator to approve applications for registration and special ballot completed by electors who are members of the civilian personnel supporting the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, where copies of identification documents were not included with the application for security reasons.

Explanation: For security reasons, copies of identification documents could not be transmitted by electronic means. Therefore, applications were forwarded to the Special Voting Rules Administrator by the authorized officer of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan, who had validated the identity and residence of the electors. In light of the secret nature of deployments and the high mobility of troops and civilian personnel, a mailing address was also not required and the Canadian Forces distributed the special ballot voting kits to the members of civilian personnel whose applications were approved.
Part 11, Divisions 3 and 4

National and Local Electors
Purpose: Instruction outlining the procedure to be followed for the retrieval of the outer envelope of a national elector inadvertently placed in the ballot box intended for the special ballots of local electors.

Explanation: The Act does not provide for correcting the situation where a special ballot was placed in the wrong ballot box.
Part 11, Division 4

Local Electors
Purpose: Instruction to allow a deputy returning officer to set aside an inner envelope from a local elector that is not sent in an outer envelope.

Explanation: Where an elector sends a special ballot in an inner envelope that is not contained in an outer envelope, it is not possible to ascertain the identity of and other information concerning the elector and to comply with the other requirements of the Act. The Act does not provide for the setting aside of an inner envelope that is not sent in an outer envelope and an instruction is required to allow the deputy returning officer to do so.


Table 6 – Voter registration statistics - 40th general election
Province or Territory Electors on Preliminary Lists Electors Added1 Inter-ED Address Changes2 Moves Within ED3 Other Corrections4 Electors Removed5 SVR Group 1 Update6 Electors on Final Lists7
Newfoundland and Labrador
407,442
8,290
4,705
22,552
11,934
10,132
106
410,411
Prince Edward Island
106,883
3,778
1,785
3,971
2,323
4,312
77
108,211
Nova Scotia
717,313
22,594
12,064
20,546
11,454
24,744
648
727,875
New Brunswick
586,285
11,679
7,134
12,935
6,577
14,522
408
590,984
Quebec
5,923,324
112,164
97,567
118,719
69,180
183,113
4,821
5,954,763
Ontario
8,766,817
234,199
148,951
145,847
139,231
321,095
6,115
8,834,987
Manitoba
823,723
27,746
16,174
28,507
18,438
33,249
1,007
835,401
Saskatchewan
703,664
20,500
14,755
24,200
11,390
24,870
1,242
715,291
Alberta
2,396,527
79,476
44,390
47,192
27,617
88,550
1,852
2,433,695
British Columbia
2,955,994
89,399
59,428
62,414
39,203
110,123
2,166
2,996,864
Yukon
22,725
887
569
1,532
486
927
27
23,281
Northwest Territories
28,226
1,163
463
4,173
558
1,206
141
28,787
Nunavut
16,104
785
505
2,801
1,495
389
84
17,089
National Total
23,455,027
612,660
408,490
495,389
339,886
817,232
18,694
23,677,639

Notes:

  1. Electors who did not appear on any lists of electors at the beginning of the election and were added during the election.
  2. ED = electoral district. Electors who appeared on the lists of electors of one ED at the beginning of the election but changed their address during the election because of a move to another ED.
  3. Electors who appeared on the lists of electors of one ED at the beginning of the election and changed their address during the election because of a move within the same polling division. These figures also include administrative changes the returning officer made to elector records during the election.
  4. Electors who appeared on a list of electors and requested a correction to an error in their name or mailing address during the election.
  5. Electors who appeared on a list of electors but were removed because of one of the following: the elector was deceased, the elector requested to be removed, the elector was no longer resident at that address or the elector was not qualified to be on the list (for example, less than 18 years old or a non-citizen). Figures also reflect elector records removed as a result of elector moves to another ED during the election and other duplicates removed during the election, including those removed during the preparation of the final lists of electors.
  6. SVR = Special Voting Rules. This column indicates the increase in the number of Group 1 electors registered under the SVR (Canadian electors temporarily residing outside Canada, Canadian Forces electors and incarcerated electors) during the election.
  7. The total number of electors on the final lists is the sum of electors on the preliminary voters list, electors added, inter-ED address updates and SVR Group 1 updates, minus removed records.

 

Table 7 – Judicial recounts
Electoral District Candidate's Name (political affiliation) Number of Votes Cast Candidate's Name (political affiliation) Number of Votes Cast Valid Votes Cast in Electoral District Variance* (number of votes) Variance* (%) Type of Situation
Egmont Gail Shea (Conservative)
8,110
Keith Milligan (Liberal)
8,055
18,461
55
0.3
Judicial recount requested by an elector
Brossard–La Prairie Alexandra Mendes (Liberal)
19,103
Marcel Lussier (Bloc Québécois)
19,034
58,624
69
0.12
Judicial recount requested by an elector
Brampton West Andrew Kania (Liberal)
21,746
Kyle Seeback (Conservative)
21,515
53,924
231
0.43
Judicial recount requested by an elector
Kitchener–Waterloo Peter Braid (Conservative)
21,830
Andrew Telegdi (Liberal)
21,813
60,534
17
0.03
Automatic judicial recount
Esquimalt–Juan de Fuca Keith Martin (Liberal)
20,042
Troy DeSouza (Conservative)
19,974
58,631
68
0.12
Judicial recount requested by an elector
Vancouver South Ujjal Dosanjh (Liberal)
16,110
Wai Young (Conservative)
16,090
41,852
20
0.05
Automatic judicial recount

* In this table, the expression "variance" refers to the difference between the number of votes cast for the two leading candidates.

 

Table 8 – Number of seats in the House of Commons, by political affiliation
Political Affiliation After the 39th General Election (January 23, 2006) At the Dissolution of Parliament (August 30, 2008) After the 40th General Election (October 14, 2008)
Conservative Party of Canada
124
127
143
Liberal Party of Canada
103
95
77
Bloc Québécois
51
48
49
New Democratic Party
29
30
37
Independent/No affiliation
1
3
2
Green Party of Canada
-
1
-
Total
308
304*
308

* At the dissolution of Parliament, four seats in the House of Commons were vacant. Three of these were previously held by the Liberal Party and one by the Bloc Québécois.