moved for leave to introduce Bill C-341, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (military dependants).
Mr. Speaker, I am please to reintroduce the bill which seeks to amend the Canada Elections Act to fully include the dependants of Canadian Forces personnel within the special voting provisions designed to take into consideration their relationship or their relocation away from home communities in the service of their country.
Currently under the act, members of the armed forces, including reserves, are permitted to have their votes counted in their normal home electoral constituency simply by filling out a special residency form.
However, their spouses and other dependants who accompany them on their postings have no such choice and must vote in the ridings in which their partners have been posted.
The purpose of the bill is to remedy this unfairness.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)