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Report of the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada on the 41st general election of May 2, 2011

Appendix

Table 1 – Number of election workers by position for the 40th and 41st general elections
Position 40th general election 41st general election
Positions filled* Positions filled* Standby or additional workers Active in the election
Additional assistant returning officer 120 128 128
Assistant automation coordinator 333 321 321
Assistant returning officer 308 308 308
Automation coordinator 320 316 316
Central poll supervisor** 14,662 16,541 392 16,149
Community relations officer 529 863 863
Deputy returning officer** 80,615 79,049 5,374 73,675
Financial officer 342 358 358
Hospital liaison officer 98 98
Information officer 19,030 18,801 205 18,596
Interpreter – Aboriginal Elder and Youth Program 349 303 303
Interpreter, language 52 38 38
Inventory clerk 718 733 733
Judicial recount clerk 247 202 202
Office clerk 8,334 8,280 8,280
Office coordinator 533 522 522
Office messenger 998 774 774
Poll clerk 72,735 74,803 365 74,438
Receptionist 1,208 1,223  – 1,223
Recruitment officer 661 701  – 701
Registration officer** 18,644 17,551 754 16,797
Returning officer 308 308 308
Revising agent 10,301 8,535 8,535
Revision centre clerk 1,006 1,152 1,152
Revision supervisor 445 436 436
Special ballot coordinator 1,960 2,058 2,058
Special messenger 665 461 461
Support staff for office of additional assistant returning officer 72 58 58
Training officer 689 705 705
Witness – validation of results 182 241 241
Total 236,366 235,867 7,090 228,777

*With the exception of the positions of returning officer, assistant returning officer and additional assistant returning officer, all figures indicate election workers who filled specific positions during the election period. In reality, 226,102 individuals were hired during the election. 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. This brings the total to 235,867 election workers, as presented in the table.

**Of the 113,141 central poll supervisors, deputy returning officers and registration officers, 6,520 (6 percent) were on standby to replace field staff if needed.

Data as of July 27, 2011.

Table 2 – Confirmed candidates and final registered party election expenses limits
Political affiliation Confirmed
candidates
Final election
expenses limit
Liberal Party of Canada 308 $21,025,793.23
New Democratic Party 308 $21,025,793.23
Conservative Party of Canada 307 $20,955,088.91
Green Party of Canada 304 $20,764,344.60
Bloc Québécois 75 $5,373,817.88
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada 70 $5,162,704.67
Independent 55 n/a
Christian Heritage Party of Canada 46 $3,202,184.33
Libertarian Party of Canada 23 $1,743,667.01
Communist Party of Canada 20 $1,358,384.14
Rhinoceros Party 14 $982,437.09
Canadian Action Party 12 $840,225.51
Pirate Party of Canada 10 $757,193.21
Progressive Canadian Party 9 $765,502.06
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada 7 $467,969.04
No affiliation 6 n/a
Marijuana Party 5 $339,676.42
Western Block Party 4 $333,954.75
United Party of Canada 3 $241,406.53
First Peoples National Party of Canada 1 $62,702.06
Total 1,587  


Table 3 – Allocation of broadcasting time
Political party Paid time
(min:sec)
Free time* (min:sec)
  CBC-TV
SRC-TV
CBC
Radio One
SRC
Première
chaîne
TVA
V Télé
Conservative Party of Canada 103:00 56:30 32:00 16:30
Liberal Party of Canada 69:30 38:00 21:30 11:00
New Democratic Party 48:00 26:00 15:00 8:00
Bloc Québécois 36:30 20:00 11:30 6:00
Green Party of Canada 23:30 13:00 7:30 4:00
Christian Heritage Party of Canada 9:30 5:30 3:00 1:30
Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada 9:30 5:30 3:00 1:30
Communist Party of Canada 8:30 5:00 3:00 1:30
Libertarian Party of Canada 8:30 5:00 3:00 1:30
Canadian Action Party 8:00 4:30 2:30 1:30
Animal Alliance Environment Voters Party of Canada 7:30 4:00 2:00 1:00
First Peoples National Party of Canada 7:30 4:00 2:00 1:00
Marijuana Party 7:30 4:00 2:00 1:00
People's Political Power Party of Canada 7:30 4:00 2:00 1:00
Progressive Canadian Party 7:30 4:00 2:00 1:00
Rhinoceros Party 7:30 4:00 2:00 1:00
Western Block Party 7:30 4:00 2:00 1:00
Pirate Party of Canada 6:30 3:30 2:00 1:00
United Party of Canada 6:30 3:30 2:00 1:00
Total (rounded) 390:00 214:00 120:00 62:00

*In the case of the CBC and SRC television and radio stations, the number of minutes shown applies to each station, English and French.

Source: Broadcasting guidelines for the 41st general election, issued March 28, 2011.

Table 4 – Adaptations of the Canada Elections Act during the 41st general election pursuant to subsection 17(1) of the Act
Statutory provision adapted Explanatory notes
Section 10 Purpose: Provided a process for any candidate who was a member of Parliament immediately before the election or any elector who continued to live with the candidate to register to vote in an electoral district other than the electoral district in which his or her place of ordinary residence is located.

Explanation: Paragraphs 10(1)(b), (c) and (d) of the Act provide for these individuals to be authorized to vote in an electoral district other than the electoral district in which their place of ordinary residence is located. However, an adaptation is required to allow their name to be added to a list of electors for the electoral district in which they decide to vote and to vote in this electoral district if it is not the electoral district in which their place of ordinary residence is located.
Sections 22, 32, 39, 135, 168, 169, 283–285, 287 Purpose: Allowed returning officers to hire additional election officers where necessary to effectively conduct an advance poll.

Explanation: The Act provides for fewer election officers at advance polls than for ordinary polls, yet more and more electors are choosing to vote at advance polls, resulting in longer waits during the vote and some advance polling stations having a high number of votes to count. This adaptation was required to permit the appointment of additional election officers where necessary to conduct an advance poll, as well as additional deputy returning officers and poll clerks for the counting of the votes cast on advance polling days.
Section 120 Purpose: Allowed the establishment of a second polling station for a polling division in the electoral district of Provencher (Manitoba).

Explanation: In the Manitoba electoral district of Provencher, polling division 091 was affected by flooding. Some residents of the polling division were evacuated to Winnipeg, while others remained in the community. The polling station for polling division 091 was opened to serve the electors who remained, and the adaptation permitted a second polling station to be opened in Winnipeg to allow the evacuated electors from polling division 091 to vote. The adaptation also directed the returning officer to report the results of polling division 091 by combining the results from the statements of the vote from the first and second polling stations for the polling division.
Section 120 Purpose: Allowed the establishment of a second polling station in a polling division in the electoral district of Drummond (Quebec).

Explanation: In the Quebec electoral district of Drummond, polling division 400‑0 was located in a seniors' residence in which there were 435 electors. By 5:00 p.m. on polling day, less than half the electors had voted and the other electors were facing long waits to vote. The Act was adapted to permit the returning officer to establish a second polling station in polling division 400‑0 and to report the results of polling division 400‑0 by combining the results from the statements of the vote from the first and second polling stations in the polling division.
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 secure 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 districts of Ottawa–Orléans and Lanark–Frontenac–Lennox and Addington, and in the New Brunswick electoral district of Fundy Royal, suitable premises could not be found in the same district, but could be found in an adjacent electoral district.
Sections 124, 135 Purpose: Allowed returning officers to appoint central poll supervisors at polling sites consisting of one or more polling stations.

Explanation: Legislative changes and the imposition of additional administrative responsibilities have created a heavier burden for poll officials already tasked with carrying out many duties. In polling stations where a high volume of voters is expected, central poll supervisors can facilitate the effective conduct of voting operations, yet the Act does not contemplate the appointment of central poll supervisors when a polling site consists of less than four polling stations.
Section 125 Purpose: Allowed the establishment of two mobile polling stations in an electoral district where some electors were evacuated as a result of flooding.

Explanation: In the Manitoba electoral district of Selkirk–Interlake, some electors from polling divisions 012, 013A, 013B and 014 were evacuated to Winnipeg, while some electors remained in the community. The adaptation permitted mobile polling stations, in addition to the regular polling stations, to be established to serve the electors who had been evacuated, and directed the returning officer to report the results of these polling divisions by combining the results from the statements of the vote from the regular polling stations and from the mobile polling stations for these polling divisions.
Section 159 Purpose: Allowed the issuance of transfer certificates in electoral districts affected by flooding.

Explanation: During the election period, several communities were affected by flooding; the normal routes of access for certain electors to their polling stations were cut off and it was easier for them to access a polling station other than their own. Sections 158 and 159 of the Act permit transfer certificates to be issued to an elector, under certain circumstances, to allow the elector to vote at a polling station other than his or her own, but inability to access the polling station due to flooding is not one of the circumstances contemplated by the Act. The adaptation permitted transfer certificates to be issued to electors whose ability to vote at their polling stations had been adversely affected by flooding.
Section 171 Purpose: Allowed the establishment of mobile advance polling stations in certain isolated communities and the sending of notice of these advance polls after the 16th day before polling day.

Explanation: The Quebec electoral district of Abitibi–Baie-James–Nunavik–Eeyou contains communities that are isolated from the sites where the advance polls were scheduled to be held. The electors in the isolated communities had requested that advance polls be established in their communities. The returning officer was unable to recruit enough election workers to staff separate advance polls in all the communities in question, but was able to provide advance polling opportunities to all electors through the use of mobile advance polls. The Act requires that notice of advance polls be sent no later than the 16th day before polling day, but arrangements for the mobile advance polls could not be completed by this date. As the Act does not contemplate the establishment of mobile advance polls and requires that notice of advance polling sites be sent no later than the 16th day before polling day, this adaptation was required to permit the establishment of mobile advance polls and the late sending of notice.
Section 295 Purpose: Deemed a polling division and an advance polling district merged.

Explanation: In the electoral district of Wascana (Saskatchewan), the deputy returning officers of polling division 147 and advance polling district 611 counted the ballots for that polling division and advance polling district together and completed a single statement of the vote in error. For the purposes of publishing the voting results, the polling division and the advance polling district were deemed merged so that the results could be combined.


Table 5 – Adaptations of the Canada Elections Act pursuant to section 179 of the Act that were made and/or used during the 41st general election
Statutory provision Explanatory notes
Section 190

(Adaptation made in
a previous election)
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 233

(New adaptation)
Purpose: Extended to electors voting by special ballot the rules regarding proof of residence applicable to electors voting at advance polls or on polling day who have no civic address.

Explanation: Subsection 143(3.1) of the Act provides that if the address contained in the piece or pieces of identification provided by an elector at an advance poll or on polling day does not prove the elector's residence, but is consistent with the information relating to the elector appearing on the list of electors, the elector's residence is deemed to have been proven. The Act does not contain a similar provision for electors who wish to vote by special ballot, yet some electors residing in rural or remote areas have no civic address by which to prove their address, or such a residential address is not contained in their pieces of identification. This adaptation provides electors who wish to vote by special ballot the same flexibility in proving their place of residence as is afforded to electors who vote at advance polls or on polling day.
Section 237

(Adaptation made in
a previous election)
Purpose: Allowed a second special ballot voting kit to be issued by the returning officer, 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 returning officer. 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

(Adaptation made in
a previous election)
Purpose: Allowed electors 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 is made, the elector's first special ballot is not to be opened or counted but is to be marked as spoiled and set aside.

Explanation: Electors voting by special ballot were given erroneous information, resulting in improperly marked ballots. 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

(New adaptation for the purposes of the 41st general election only)
Purpose: Changed the polling day for incarcerated electors from the 10th day before polling day to the 11th day before polling day.

Explanation: The Act specifies that incarcerated electors may vote, by special ballot, only on the 10th day before polling day. The 10th day before polling day for the 41st general election, April 22, 2011, was a holiday at the federal level and in the provinces. The administrators of many federal and provincial correctional institutions informed the Chief Electoral Officer that they could not ensure the availability of the personnel necessary to conduct the vote if it were to take place on that day. The day for voting by special ballot in correctional institutions was, therefore, changed to the 11th day before polling day, which was not a holiday.
Sections 246, 247

(Adaptation made in
a previous election)
Purpose: Extended the statutory process for voting under the Special Voting Rules in provincial correctional institutions to federal correctional institutions.

Explanation: Because the Act formerly prohibited voting by incarcerated electors in federal institutions, it does not describe a process for such electors 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 correctional institutions to federal correctional institutions.


Table 6 – Voter registration statistics for the 41st 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 409,455 9,801 5,466 16,082 4,917 10,239 296 414,779
Prince Edward Island 105,948 5,020 2,019 3,532 1,857 4,647 116 108,456
Nova Scotia 723,046 21,648 11,082 17,563 9,664 23,491 809 733,094
New Brunswick 587,700 12,108 6,382 12,058 6,256 13,957 585 592,818
Quebec 6,117,038 81,531 54,801 66,948 82,452 128,096 5,033 6,130,307
Ontario 8,865,628 316,350 161,139 150,633 143,258 317,963 8,112 9,033,266
Manitoba 812,718 31,797 16,261 26,725 15,727 31,257 1,522 831,041
Saskatchewan 708,135 25,757 12,664 23,728 11,271 24,196 1,454 723,814
Alberta 2,469,813 85,027 38,923 40,143 30,753 86,800 2,427 2,509,390
British Columbia 3,066,103 91,022 58,351 57,499 33,707 108,153 2,594 3,109,917
Yukon 23,357 1,125 725 1,608 610 904 38 24,341
Northwest Territories 27,886 1,477 613 1,409 875 1,128 172 29,020
Nunavut 16,916 690 189 247 105 607 161 17,349
National total 23,933,743 683,353 368,615 418,175 341,452 751,438 23,319 24,257,592

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 to another 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 electors moving 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 lists, electors added, inter-ED address updates and SVR Group 1 updates, minus removed records.
Table 7 – Voter turnout for the 40th and 41st general elections
Province or territory 40th general election, 2008 41st general election, 2011 Increase or decrease (-) from the 40th general election
Electors on final lists Ballots
cast
Voter turnout Electors on final lists Ballots
cast
Voter turnout Electors on final lists Ballots cast Voter
turnout
Canada 23,677,639 13,929,093 58.8% 24,257,592 14,823,408 61.1% 579,953 894,315 2.3%
Newfoundland and Labrador 410,411 195,669 47.7% 414,779 218,166 52.6% 4,368 22,497 4.9%
Prince Edward Island 108,211 74,636 69.0% 108,456 79,511 73.3% 245 4,875 4.3%
Nova Scotia 727,875 438,551 60.3% 733,094 454,266 62.0% 5,219 15,715 1.7%
New Brunswick 590,984 371,586 62.9% 592,818 392,208 66.2% 1,834 20,622 3.3%
Quebec 5,954,763 3,671,728 61.7% 6,130,307 3,853,120 62.9% 175,544 181,392 1.2%
Ontario 8,834,987 5,177,150 58.6% 9,033,266 5,556,608 61.5% 198,279 379,458 2.9%
Manitoba 835,401 468,743 56.1% 831,041 493,340 59.4% -4,360 24,597 3.3%
Saskatchewan 715,291 419,600 58.7% 723,814 456,501 63.1% 8,523 36,901 4.4%
Alberta 2,433,695 1,274,992 52.4% 2,509,390 1,400,674 55.8% 75,695 125,682 3.4%
British Columbia 2,996,864 1,799,892 60.1% 3,109,917 1,879,304 60.4% 113,053 79,412 0.3%
Yukon Territory 23,281 14,721 63.2% 24,341 16,124 66.2% 1,060 1,403 3.0%
Northwest Territories 28,787 13,733 47.7% 29,020 15,655 53.9% 233 1,922 6.2%
Nunavut 17,089 8,092 47.4% 17,349 7,931 45.7% 260 -161 -1.7%


Table 8 – 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
Montmagny–L'Islet–Kamouraska–Rivière-du-Loup François Lapointe (NDP-New Democratic Party) 17,285 Bernard Généreux (Conservative) 17,276 47,545 9 0.02 Automatic
Etobicoke Centre Ted Opitz (Conservative) 21,644 Borys Wrzesnewskyj (Liberal) 21,618 52,523 26 0.05 Automatic
Nipissing–Timiskaming Jay Aspin (Conservative) 15,495 Anthony Rota (Liberal) 15,477 42,271 18 0.04 Automatic
Winnipeg North Kevin Lamoureux (Liberal) 9,097 Rebecca Blaikie (NDP-New Democratic Party) 9,053 25,427 44 0.17 Requested

*Variance refers to the difference between the number of votes cast for the two leading candidates.