Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Nov. 25th, 2025

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

We have some time.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

I have a few questions. I may have some time left over, in which case I think one of my colleagues will step in, Mr. Chair.

Captain Salt, thank you very much for being here. I'll start with a line of questions for you.

I see that you're in the navy, on that side of the equation, so I guess I'll ask this question. I don't know of any airplanes that can stay airborne for 37 days. I don't know of anybody on the ground who can't get to a polling station, but there are sailors at sea for more than 37 days.

Explain to me how a sailor who is at sea can vote in a general election. How does that process work?

[James Salt]

As the committee member rightly points out, ships can be and often are at sea for long periods. In cases where ships at sea might be transiting long distances, we have the ability to get ballots out to the ships in advance when they're within range of certain areas. Although a ship might be at sea for 35 days, it wouldn't necessarily be so far away from the nearest port that we wouldn't be able to put a helicopter ashore and arrange for a pickup of ballots to bring them back. There is also the potential to utilize other navies to help with transport.

I know of no situation where we've done that before, but the potential is there. Ships, even though they're at sea for 35 days and can stay at sea for longer than 35 days, have the ability to get within transportation distance to transport ballots as need be.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Are you satisfied, Captain, that every CAF member on deployment who wants to vote is able to vote?

[James Salt]

What I can tell you, sir, is that every CAF member who was deployed or was not available to vote and wished to was provided that opportunity.

We had approximately 3,200 ballots shipped overseas. These were special ballots outside of the Canadian AOR that were shipped to CAF members who were deployed on ships, on exercises, on special missions or to embassies. That was the total number that Elections Canada managed to get out and have returned prior to 6 p.m. on election day.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Sir, are you satisfied that every ballot cast by a member who's deployed gets back to Elections Canada in a timely fashion and gets counted and that there is scrutiny, oversight and security of those ballots as they're being transferred from the voting facility back to Elections Canada?

[James Salt]

I can only speak to what I have seen personally within the process. As you can imagine, at the Canadian Armed Forces, we're all about procedures, so there's a way of doing things for everything. While we may transport completed ballots through couriers in the same manner that Global Affairs or other government departments do, our internal process ensures that our liaison officers and the unit election officers are fully trained to take those ballots, make sure they're sealed properly and make sure they get back on time.

As I mentioned, this year, out of the 25,000 ballots sent out, every single ballot was received. We did have, I believe—I can count on one hand—four spoiled ballots. That was due to improper procedures conducted by the unit election officer on site. There were four CAF members who cast a vote, but it did not count because it was considered a spoiled ballot. Those procedures were reviewed. We will tighten things up as need be to make sure that our liaison officers and election officers ensure that those types of small errors don't happen.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Can the CAF member vote in the riding in which they were born and raised for the duration of their career?

[James Salt]

Thank you for the follow-up question. As mentioned to the vice-chair, I will need to verify with Elections Canada on this one. As far as I'm aware, every CAF member, like every Canadian, is permitted to register in whatever riding they wish. That information would then be placed in our system. That said, I would need to follow up with Elections Canada to verify that.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Elections Canada would then be the arbiter of whether or not they're allowed to register in that riding. Is that what you're saying, sir?

[James Salt]

As I understand the process, that is correct, sir.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

Okay.

Ms. Csaba, are you satisfied that all our diplomats who are deployed and serving around the world are able to vote in a secure and safe way, and that their ballots are returned in time to be counted?

[Kati Csaba]

I am, yes. As someone who served for 18 years at missions abroad, I can tell you that there is a robust process for ensuring that Canadian diplomats going out on a posting are informed of the process for registering with the international register of electors. The onus is on the individual, of course, to choose to register, but we do have rigorous processes in place to ensure that we are collecting the ballots in a safe way and are returning them to Canada in time for election day.

[Blaine Calkins, Conservative, Ponoka—Didsbury, AB]

You said in your opening remarks that you help Canadians living abroad. You make sure they have the information, and you work in basically a liaison capacity or an educational capacity. Where situations are more difficult or complex, you hand them over directly to Elections Canada.

Could you give this committee any insights you have on any of the frustrations? They might be anecdotal. I don't know how you capture this information, or if you do, but we seem to have very low interest from Canadians living abroad in participating in elections. Can you give us any examples or any anecdotal evidence to suggest that Canadians are by and large not voting because of their frustration with the process? What would you say are the complaints? If you're getting complaints from Canadians living abroad, what do they complain about in the administration of elections?

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Let me interrupt you there. That was an outstanding question, but we are well over time.

I was going to add a minute at the end for each member, so I'll give another minute to Madame Brière, who will have six minutes. Then I will give another minute, in addition to her 30 seconds, to Madame Normandin. After that, we'll do five minutes and five minutes.

The bank works, I guess.

[Voices]

Oh, oh!

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Mrs. Brière, you have the floor for six minutes.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will be splitting my time with my colleague Dominique.

Thank you to both of you for being here.

Captain Salt, you said during your opening remarks that you could expand on the people with PR, or permanent residence, and those under 18 years old.

[James Salt]

Yes, ma'am. As mentioned, all eligible CAF electors are permitted to vote, but as the committee may or may not be aware, we can enrol individuals within the Canadian Armed Forces prior to them turning 18. More recently, over the last year and a half, we have allowed for the enrolment of permanent residents within the Canadian Armed Forces. Of course, those two groups of individuals are not permitted to vote.

The CAF elector list, when it's provided to Elections Canada, basically would not include individuals who have permanent resident status or who are under 18 years of age. If individuals from one of those two groups tried to approach a CAF polling station, their names wouldn't be on the list. Of course, if individuals are not on the list, as with a regular civilian polling station, they are permitted to register at that time. When that vote is counted by Elections Canada, it would be picked up then.

Because it is early stages and we have only just started this, we had a very small number of permanent residents in the CAF when the general election was called. I think it was about 130. We expect in the next election to have a much larger number. Processes will be put in place to request verification by CAF members that they hold Canadian citizenship and that they are not a permanent resident, which would allow them to vote.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

Thank you.

Ms. Csaba, we understand that it's not easy to find out exactly how many Canadians live abroad. However, do you know how many Canadians are registered on your diplomatic lists at Global Affairs Canada?

[Kati Csaba]

I don't have that data with me right now. Many Canadians are registered, but normally only a fairly small percentage of Canadians living in the country register. I can provide you with the data after this meeting, but keep in mind that the numbers never really reflects reality, because many Canadians don't choose to register with the embassy.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

At a previous meeting, a witness told us that she saw voting abroad as a great opportunity for international co-operation between countries. I'd like to hear your comments on that.

[Kati Csaba]

It kind of depends on the laws and procedures for voting abroad. For example, some countries offer the option to vote in person, but we don't. We might tell them how to arrange it in Canada. However, as I mentioned at the beginning of my presentation, we're not responsible for helping other countries that want to offer in-person voting here in Canada.

[Élisabeth Brière, Liberal, Sherbrooke, QC]

Thank you.

[Dominique O'Rourke, Liberal, Guelph, ON]

Captain Salt, thank you very much for your service.

I've been involved in elections. I love that Elections Canada and our democracy seek to enable any qualified, eligible voter to cast a ballot. The examples you provided about how we go the limit to make sure that everybody who is eligible can vote are just extraordinary.

I'm curious as to whether you received any feedback from military members on any possible improvements to their voting process.