Consequences of fixed election date will go under the microscope after Oct. 19
Canada's chief electoral officer says there are other issues stemming from the Fair Elections Act and having a fixed election date that he will look into after Oct. 19, including rules designed to cover the activities of candidates, parties and third parties before and during a campaign.
In an interview with CBC Radio's The House, Marc Mayrand said that given the fixed election date, parties were able to plan months in advance and coordinate campaign efforts long before the election was called. So have third parties.
"Does that build a level playing field? I think that's a matter we'll need to examine after the election," he said.
"If we believe there's a sense of unfairness out there, I think Parliament will need to reconsider those rules."
Mayrand also touched on the increased spending budgets for parties thanks to an 11-week campaign that sees an extra $600,000 in spending for each day a campaign exceeds 37 days, for parties running a full slate of candidates.
"I'm not aware of any study that has built a direct co-relation between money and outcome of the election, but obviously parties must believe it makes a difference, because they will be spending more this election," he said.
"We won't find out until we get financial returns after the election," he said. "For the parties, it comes six months after the election. For candidates, it's four months. So it will be a year before we really have a sense of how the money was spent and where it was spent."
As for spending prior to the campaign being called Aug. 2, Mayrand said Elections Canada doesn't know how much money was spent by third party groups.
"I don't know if anybody knows," he said. "Third parties didn't have to register until the call of the election, so we may never know how much was spent."
Focus on voters
Canada's chief electoral officer remains concerned about getting Canadians out to vote in an election he predicts will "likely be a very competitive one this time around."
One way Elections Canada is addressing low voter turnout and concerns by critics over voter suppression is through a cross-country pilot project aimed at reaching out to groups with a traditionally low voter turnout.
"It's reaching those who face more barriers in voting," Mayrand said.
Elections Canada will create special advance voting centres in 53 locations across the country, in various university campuses, friendship centres and community centres like YMCAs, Mayrand said.
Although groups such as students and Aboriginal Canadians are targeted, the centres will be open to all interested voters from Oct. 9 to 12, he added.
"That's going to be our main focus — reaching out to electors and making sure they know how, when and where to vote," he said.
Making it easier for Canadians to vote
Now that 480 election offices have been set up after a surprise early start to the campaign, Mayrand said the priority for Elections Canada is tackling the issues surrounding low voter turnout.
In the 2011 federal election, voter turnout was 61.1 per cent.
"There's been a change of rules (under the 2014 Fair Elections Act), but the important thing is that the new rules don't affect 85 per cent of electors," Mayrand said.
"Most Canadians, 85 per cent, use their driver's license and that's enough when you come to vote."
Another 10 per cent of the electorate needs to bring two documents to prove their identity and address if not using a driver's license, according to Mayrand.
That leaves two to five per cent of electors "who are really challenged in producing documents with a proper address," he said.
"For that segment of the population, we've put out alternatives where they can get letters of attestation from authorities."
But Mayrand added Elections Canada won't know how effective their strategy is until after the election.