Questions and responses 45th Parliament, 1st session May 26, 2025, to present

With regard to Elections Canada and special ballot data, for each of the 2019, 2021 and 2025 general elections, in total and broken down by electoral district, for each part of the question: (a) how many special ballots were issued to electors living (i) in their riding and voting by mail from inside their riding, (ii) in their riding and voting at an Elections Canada office inside their riding, (iii) in their riding and voting by mail from outside their riding, (iv) in their riding and voting at an Elections Canada office outside their riding, (v) outside of Canada and voting by mail from outside their riding; and (b) what is the breakdown of (a)(i) to (a)(v) by each of the five types of special voting rules for electors?

With regard to Elections Canada, for each of the 2019, 2021 and 2025 general elections, in total and broken down by electoral district, for each part of the question: (a) how many applications for vote-by-mail ballots were (i) requested, (ii) denied; (b) how many vote-by-mail ballots were (i) sent out, (ii) received, (iii) counted, (iv) rejected; (c) what is the breakdown of each part of (b) by ballots sent to voters within Canada versus those outside of Canada; and (d) for Canadian citizens residing outside of Canada, what is the process for determining what riding they vote in, and how does Election Canada verify the accuracy of the information used to determine the riding?

With regard to voting by special ballot from outside of Canada during the 45th general election: (a) how many individuals were on the International Register of Electors at the conclusion of the 44th general election, in total and broken down by (i) country of residence, (ii) electoral district of registration; (b) on what date or dates, after the 44th general election and before the 45th general election, were verification notices sent to individuals on the International Register of Electors; (c) how many individuals were removed from the International Register of Electors after each round of verification notices referred to in (b), in total and broken down by (i) country of residence, (ii) electoral district of registration; (d) how many individuals were on the International Register of Electors when the 44th Parliament was dissolved, in total and broken down by (i) country of residence, (ii) electoral district of registration; (e) how many individuals were added to the International Register of Electors during the course of the 45th general election, in total and broken down by (i) country of residence, (ii) electoral district of registration; (f) how many individuals, removed from the International Register of Electors after the 44th general election, subsequently applied to be re-added to the International Register of Electors before or during the 45th general election, in total; and (g) when an individual is removed from the International Register of Electors and subsequently applies to be re-added to the International Register of Electors, is the Canadian address referenced in the application verified against the individual's previous application or entry in the International Register of Electors?

With regard to election security and the amendments made to the Canadian Elections Act, as proposed in Part 4 of Bill C-4, An Act respecting certain affordability measures for Canadians and another measure: (a) was the initial decision to pursue the amendments made in response to (i) the ongoing litigation proceeding in British Columbia regarding whether federal political parties are subject to provincial privacy legislation, (ii) the decision of Delegate Loukidelis dated March 1, 2022, (iii) the decision of Justice Weatherill of the British Columbia Supreme Court dated May 14, 2014, (iv) the British Columbia Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner's pending investigation of the federal political parties; (b) what are the details of how the initial decision to pursue the amendments to the Canadian Elections Act was made, including (i) the date on which the policy direction to pursue these amendments was first approved, (ii) the ministers, ministerial offices, departments or central agencies that authorized proceeding, (iii) whether the amendments were developed in response to concerns related to election integrity, foreign interference, or data-driven campaign practices, (iv) why the similar amendments already made to the Canadian Elections Act via Bill C-47, from the first session of the 44th Parliament, were considered inadequate; (c) what are the details of the policy development pathway, including (i) summaries of any briefing notes, options analyses, or interdepartmental memoranda, (ii) identification of any alternative approaches that were considered and rejected, (iii) any consideration of options that would have subjected political parties to independent privacy oversight or enforceable data-protection standards; (d) which actors influenced the final approach adopted and how, including (i) the names of any political parties, campaign organizations, data-analytics firms, or other external advisors, that provided input, (ii) the nature of each actor’s input, (iii) which, if any, of these actors raised concerns regarding data access, targeting capabilities, or regulatory constraints; (e) was the lack of independent cybersecurity oversight identified as a potential national security risk; (f) were any independent officers of Parliament or oversight bodies, including the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Chief Electoral Officer, or officials responsible for election-security and foreign-interference mitigation, consulted, and if not, why; and (g) is the government doing anything to address the concerns raised by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, in their brief submitted to the Standing Committee on Finance on October 20th, 2025, including concerns about (i) lack of enforcement powers, (ii) lack of resources to enforce the provisions, (iii) lack of clarity regarding the provisions’ scope?