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A dissolution of Parliament terminates all business in the Senate and in the House of Commons and is followed by a general election. Unless Parliament is dissolved earlier, the date of a general election is set in accordance with the provisions of the Canada Elections Act which stipulates that each general election must be held on the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following polling day for the last general election.[120] The election process has evolved considerably since 1867. The Constitution Act, 1867 stated that electoral laws in force at the time in the provinces would apply to the election of Members until such time as Parliament enacted its own legislation.[121] Thus, in 1867 and in 1872, polling days were held on different days in different locations over several weeks:[122] in 1867, elections were held on different dates in different ridings over a period of six weeks; the 1872 election lasted three months.[123] Moreover, with the exception of elections in New Brunswick where the secret ballot had been adopted in 1855, voting was done orally.[124] In 1874, Parliament passed electoral legislation which stipulated that votes had to be cast on the same day in all electoral districts and by secret ballot.[125] A number of administrative and process amendments were made to the legislation over the following decades and in 1920 a new statute was enacted. Among other matters, the Dominion Elections Act created the office of the Chief Electoral Officer to oversee the election process.[126] In 1929, the Act was amended to establish Monday as polling day, unless that day was a statutory holiday, in which case the election was held the next day.[127] Statutory provisions to limit the length of an election were only introduced in 1982 when the electoral period was set at a minimum of 50 days;[128] in 1993, the election period was shortened to a minimum of 47 days.[129] In 1996, amendments to the Canada Elections Act introduced a permanent register of electors, reduced the minimum time required between the issue of the election writs and polling day to 36 days and staggered the hours of voting across Canada’s six time zones with polling stations open 12 hours in each region.[130] In 2000, the Canada Elections Act was repealed and replaced with an identically titled new statute which modernized the organization and terminology of electoral legislation.[131] In addition, the new statute repealed the Dominion Controverted Elections Act which dealt with disputed election results; new provisions for resolving such matters were added to the Canada Elections Act. The Corrupt Practices Inquiries Act (1876) and the Disfranchising Act (1894) were also repealed.[132] In 2007, the Act was amended to provide for fixed elections every four years.[133]
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