{"id":562958,"date":"2026-03-26T22:05:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:05:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/562958\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T22:05:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T22:05:11","slug":"ottawa-proposes-amendments-to-elections-act-to-counter-long-ballot-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/562958\/","title":{"rendered":"Ottawa proposes amendments to Elections Act to counter long-ballot protests"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

The legislation, announced Thursday, also includes a ban on digital deepfakes of candidates, as well as other continuing measures to protect electors from unlawful attempts to influence their votes.ETHAN CAIRNS\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The federal government has proposed amendments to the Canada Elections Act that will take aim at protest movements that load election ballots with dozens of names. <\/p>\n

Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act, targets such long-ballot activism by limiting electors to signing one nomination form per candidate. Also, the bill will limit official agents to serving only one candidate. <\/p>\n

Government House Leader Steven MacKinnon told a news conference in Ottawa on Thursday that Parliament has found the efforts of activists using the tactic to be \u201charassing behaviour.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that they have a message they want to put forward,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

But he said the results of those efforts are complicating the electoral process, and making the work of Elections Canada difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cCitizens do not like this. Elections Canada does not like this. And there are other ways to put forward the message that they, I think, want to communicate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Terrebonne by-election to use write-in ballots due to high number of candidates<\/a><\/p>\n

The Longest Ballot Committee, which says election rules should be created by a citizens\u2019 assembly, not politicians, has said it will target the April federal by-election in Terrebonne, Que.<\/p>\n

Ahead of the March 23 nomination deadline, a spokesperson for the group said they were out collecting nominations for Terrebonne.<\/p>\n

Mr. MacKinnon said he does not expect the new amendments to become law before voters go to the polls in Terrebonne and two other ridings \u2013 University-Rosedale and Scarborough Southwest, both in Toronto.<\/p>\n

He noted that several events had delayed government action on the matter, including a public inquiry on foreign interference in the election process that produced a report a year ago, as well as the federal election in April, 2025. The process also incorporated reflections of the Chief Electoral Officer and consultations with political parties, he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think this is actually a very, very quick turnaround if you look back over the history of responding to the advancements we try to make, and improvements we try and make as we learn after every election,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

But Mr. MacKinnon rejected the idea that the by-elections would be vulnerable to democratic interference. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe capacity that we have is capacity that does operate during by-elections,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Campbell Clark: A long ballot satire within satire<\/a><\/p>\n

Referring to the amendments, he said, \u201cWe are now proposing to extend that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Longest Ballot Committee previously protested other races such as the Battle River-Crowfoot by-election in Alberta last summer, which Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre won after losing his Ottawa-area riding in the general election.<\/p>\n

The legislation, announced Thursday, also includes a ban on digital deepfakes of candidates, as well as other continuing measures to protect electors from unlawful attempts to influence their votes.<\/p>\n

The government is proposing to invest $31.5-million over five years to enhance the ability of the Rapid Response Mechanism of Global Affairs Canada to respond to foreign information threats. <\/p>\n

Under the proposed legislation, federal political parties will also have to incorporate new measures to bolster their privacy policies, and the home addresses of returning officers will no longer be published by the Canada Gazette.<\/p>\n

Also, eligible candidates will be reimbursed up to a maximum of $3,250 for personal security expenses, an increase from the current maximum of $3,000.<\/p>\n

Mr. MacKinnon thanked the opposition, saying he had worked very hard with other parties to ensure as great a consensus as possible on the bill and the measures.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do believe that amendments to the Elections Act should be the subject of not, maybe total agreement, on every word, but a consensus on principles and a consensus generally speaking on measures to move forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: The legislation, announced Thursday, also includes a ban on digital deepfakes of candidates,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194295],"tags":[49,48,20739,714],"class_list":["post-562958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ottawa","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ottawa","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}