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An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Regulation Adapting the Canada Elections Act for the Purposes of a Referendum (voting age)

This bill is from the 43rd Parliament, 2nd session, which ended in August 2021.

Status

In committee (Senate), as of June 22, 2021
(This bill did not become law.)

Summary

This is from the published bill.

This enactment amends the Canada Elections Act and the Regulation Adapting the Canada Elections Act for the Purposes of a Referendum to lower the voting age from 18 years to 16.

Similar bills

C-227 (44th Parliament, 1st session) An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (voting age)
C-210 (44th Parliament, 1st session) Right to Vote at 16 Act
S-201 (44th Parliament, 1st session) An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Regulation Adapting the Canada Elections Act for the Purposes of a Referendum (voting age)
C-279 (43rd Parliament, 2nd session) An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (voting age)
C-240 (43rd Parliament, 2nd session) An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (voting age)
S-219 (43rd Parliament, 1st session) An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act and the Regulation Adapting the Canada Elections Act for the Purposes of a Referendum (voting age)
C-240 (43rd Parliament, 1st session) An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (voting age)

Elsewhere

All sorts of information on this bill is available at LEGISinfo, an excellent resource from Parliament. You can also read the full text of the bill.

Bill numbers are reused for different bills each new session. Perhaps you were looking for one of these other S-209s:

S-209 (2025) Protecting Young Persons from Exposure to Pornography Act
S-209 (2021) Law Pandemic Day Act
S-209 (2020) An Act to amend the Department for Women and Gender Equality Act
S-209 (2015) An Act to amend the Official Languages Act (communications with and services to the public)

Canada Elections ActRoutine Proceedings

March 24th, 2021 / 4:40 p.m.


See context

Green

Elizabeth May Green Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC

moved for leave to introduce Bill C-279, An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (voting age).

Madam Speaker, it is an honour to present this bill, not for the first time but as a reintroduction with some modifications, to change the Elections Act such that Canadians aged 16 years and older can vote.

Certainly we see a crisis in the youngest demographic in this country not voting. Clear empirical evidence that we reviewed when we had a special committee on electoral reform pointed in the direction that people who start voting stick with their voting habit, but if we do not vote when we become eligible to vote at age 18, we are unlikely to start at 25 or 30. Voting at age 16 is a key way of refreshing, restarting and rebooting our democracy.

I note parenthetically that there was a similar bill that I also supported before the House, Bill C-240, from the member for Vancouver Kingsway, as well as one started in the other place by independent Senator McPhedran, Bill S-209. I certainly hope the House will be able to debate and vote on one of these worthy pieces of legislation to improve the state of our democracy.

(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)