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

[James Salt]

Thank you very much for your question, sir.

Yes, it has changed a bit. As the vice-chair is aware, previously, members would fill out what was called a statement of ordinary residence. This was captured within our systems, and that data was provided to Elections Canada. For example, I as a member could indicate that I would like to vote in the Ottawa district, or, because I spent the majority of my time in the navy in Victoria, that might be where I wanted to vote. I believe about 10 years ago a bill was passed that removed the requirement for a statement of ordinary residence. We now use, as I mentioned, Guardian, so it's their current residence in the system.

I would have to verify this with Elections Canada, but as I understand it, all CAF members, like all Canadians, are still permitted to register through Elections Canada and choose the voting district they wish. That would be recorded in our system. When the CAF elector lists are put out, the individuals would vote based on that information.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

I appreciate that. I'm fascinated by this, and I'd like to get a bit more detail to see how it has changed. Obviously, 10 years ago, I wasn't in a position to analyze it closely as a parliamentarian. I believe our CAF members should be able to vote and stay voting wherever they enrolled from.

I want to get into the challenges we face. I know GAC is incredibly supportive, especially with some of the smaller missions we have deployed around the world, of getting ballots back. When timing is of the essence in the 36-day window, can you explain a bit...?

I'll stay focused on you, Captain Salt, although if Ms. Csaba has something to add, she can. This is with respect to candidate lists.

With special ballots, those who want to vote at the start of a writ period have to know how to spell the name of their candidate. It's a bit more complicated when there are distances of sometimes tens of thousands of kilometres.

How does that work? Are you providing the list of candidates, or is it on the individual Canadians abroad to know who they're voting for? If you can, please explain some of the challenges for the smaller missions in getting the ballots back.

[James Salt]

In answer to your first question, the electoral list is provided to us by Elections Canada once it's been finalized. Whether the individuals are voting through National Defence headquarters here in Ottawa or through a single ballot because they're deployed in Lebanon, the lists are provided to them at that time. They have full access to the individuals they are able to vote for within their particular riding.

With regard to logistics, we're in a very unique position, as you're well aware. We have a lot of resources available to us that we can bring to bear if there's a need for them. Typically, just like Global Affairs, we make use of couriers like DHL to get our votes back whenever possible—specifically for those who are in Canada, such as an individual voting in Victoria—to Elections Canada headquarters here in Ottawa.

We also have the ability to move votes if it's required. The Alert example was a perfect case. This flight was not set up specifically for the voting period; it was coincidental that it was going up there for a supply run. In fact, the flight had been cancelled twice prior to that due to bad weather during the election period, and this was our last opportunity to get up there. That's the reason I said it was sitting on the tarmac waiting for poor weather to roll in so it could get off the ground and head back to Ottawa with those ballots.

Similarly, for overseas voters, we have the ability to utilize the embassies overseas if we need to, through collaboration with Global Affairs, to help move our votes. There's a lot of collaboration in that sense.

[Alex Ruff, Conservative, Bruce—Grey—Owen Sound, ON]

Are there any special conditions with Elections Canada? If the signed and sealed ballots have been transferred either to GAC or to the CAF's leadership, are the timelines very strict? Do they need to be back in Elections Canada's hands by voting night?

[James Salt]

In our case, they have to be back no later than 6 p.m. I'm proud to say that we had every single CAF ballot, out of those 25,000 that I spoke to, make it back to Elections Canada on time this year.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Thank you so much.

Madame Kayabaga, you have six minutes.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

I'd like to welcome our distinguished guests today.

It's very nice to see you again, Ms. Csaba. I had the opportunity to meet Ms. Csaba in Ghana when she was the high commissioner for Ghana. It's very nice to see you.

Welcome, Mr. Salt, as well.

You mentioned a list of things that you guys are not able to provide for Canadians living abroad. Can you mention what you can provide?

As I was listening to the questioning by colleagues opposite, I was very intrigued to know how some of the resources the CAF is using could also be extended to smaller missions that may not have the services needed to bring in ballots on time.

[Kati Csaba]

I'm happy to respond to that.

There are a number of things that Global Affairs, through its missions, can provide, both to electors and to Elections Canada.

First of all, we start by providing an up-to-date list of all of Canada's diplomatic missions and consular posts so that Elections Canada knows from where we are working. We respond directly to general inquiries from Canadian electors abroad on the process of voting through special ballot, but we will respond only with general information. Any specific cases will be referred to Elections Canada.

We post information on our embassy websites, and we share updates through social media to ensure Canadians abroad have timely and accurate information. Whether they see it or not is another question, but we do our best to get that information out to the public.

We can assist electors who need special help, who need accommodation, to submit their application to Elections Canada to get onto the international register of electors. We can serve as a post office, in a sense, for people who wish to have their ballots sent to the mission abroad, or for Canadians to drop off their completed ballots. We will send them back to Canada on their behalf. We also do our very best to get them back to Canada in time for election day. We normally use courier services that are paid for by Elections Canada.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you for clarifying all the things you offer as options.

I'll ask you a few more questions, but first, I want to say how impressed I am by the number of members who are voting, which is very good. That's a really high number.

Mr. Salt, are those options extended to families of CAF members?

[James Salt]

The special ballot vote is extended to family members who are deployed overseas in an OUTCAN situation, but not those within Canada. We actually had approximately 175 civilian votes that were transported with military votes. They were separate but transported with them and delivered to Elections Canada. A spouse, or a sibling of legal age who is on an OUTCAN deployment with their father or mother, would be allowed to vote, and we would transport those votes to Elections Canada alongside ours.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

In your numbers, do you include some of the CAF members who are stationed at different embassies for different reasons, or is it specifically deployments that are in groups?

[James Salt]

No. In this particular case, we would have a liaison officer assigned to OUTCAN—out of Canada—and assigned to rest of world. Rest-of-world individuals are those who are deployed. OUTCAN is for those who are posted overseas. For example, they might be at Global Affairs or they might be posted to NATO headquarters in Brussels, etc. That is how they're divided up.

That list is provided to Elections Canada, and then Elections Canada ensures that those votes, the special ballots, are transported to the individuals using the liaison officers as required to help facilitate that.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you so much.

Ms. Csaba, can you comment on whether there could be a collaboration of resources in situations where you can do so? If CAF members at Global Affairs Canada, some of whom I've met, are able to vote through the CAF, would this effort allow more ballots to be returned to Canada?

You mentioned the ballots that for this general election, let's say, did not make it back because of the timing issue. Can you comment on whether these votes could be returned in that manner?

[Kati Csaba]

We certainly have excellent collaboration between Global Affairs Canada and Elections Canada, but also with the armed forces. In the example that was given, someone who is deployed to a mission abroad—for example, as the defence attaché—would be welcome to include their ballot and their family's ballots in the courier bag that is coming back to headquarters in time.

Where we have missions, we are pleased to collaborate in whatever ways make it fastest and easiest to get ballots back, but of course there will be situations where the CAF may have a presence on the ground where we don't have a diplomatic mission. In those cases, it's more logical for them to manage that.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

With less than 10 seconds left, I want to know about the general procedure. Once the names go on, they're certified by Elections Canada, and it takes them a bit of time to make it to the website. What is the procedure and tracking time if there are special allocations for people abroad to cast a vote after the period?

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

I'll have to be a bit of a jerk. You had 10 seconds left, and that was a 30-second question. We will come back to that; we will have a lot of time.

We will now go to Madame Normandin.

You have six minutes.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Thank you very much to both witnesses for being with us.

My first question is for you, Captain Salt.

I'd like to hear your comments on how complex it is set up polling stations for missions abroad. I'm thinking in particular of the fact that rotations can happen in the middle of an election. I know that the Canadian Armed Forces are particularly good at logistics. That's why they're so valuable. However, certain circumstances must pose an exceptional challenge for you.

How do you manage to set up polling stations if there's a rotation, for example? I'm thinking in particular of Operation Reassurance, in which many Canadians are deployed, and rotations take place every six months. If that happens in the middle of an election, what do you do, particularly when it comes to establishing voters lists?

[James Salt]

Thank you for your question.

I'll answer in English, given the subject at hand.

In the cases of individuals who are deployed, thankfully we generally know well in advance when they're going to be deployed, so we have an opportunity to do some advanced collaboration with Elections Canada to ensure that individuals who are going to be on the ground during a designated polling window, if they have not been able to take advantage of civilian election opportunities, are counted towards that.

There has been—and there would be, no doubt—the occasional situation where an individual might get deployed on very short notice. In those situations, because of the daily interactions with our Elections Canada representatives, we have the ability to, on very short notice, pull together a special ballot and make sure that the individual has that ballot and is able to vote prior to deploying or even while deployed.

We have processes in place, and thankfully we haven't, that I am aware of, run into a situation where an individual wanted to vote and was unable to.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Csaba, I have questions for you as well.

At the beginning of your opening remarks, you explained your role and the agreement you have with Elections Canada. I'm curious to hear more about that.

It seems that voting abroad really hangs on getting information to voters so they can register and have their name put on the list. From what I understand, you can post information online, but unlike national voters, who receive the election card, potential voters abroad don't receive personalized communications.

Could that be part of your mandate one day, if the agreement with Elections Canada is reviewed? If so, would it be complicated? Would you be in the best position to handle it? For example, do you know the geographic distribution of Canadians abroad? It seems unclear how big the diaspora is.

I know there a few parts to that question. Can you give me a rundown?

[Kati Csaba]

Yes, that question covers a number of aspects.

At the moment, we're unable to contact Canadians abroad directly, in part because we don't know who they are. Some of them register with Global Affairs Canada, but many Canadians living abroad aren't in contact with us. We don't even know if they're in the country or not, so it would be very hard to contact them directly.

What we post on the embassy website or social media is written in such a way as to encourage Canadians to vote and to register on the voters list. We do everything we can with the resources we have to communicate when there's an upcoming election and provide instructions for registering to vote.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

To your knowledge, would any department be able to get a little more information? I'm thinking in particular of Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, when passports are issued, or the Canada Revenue Agency, for those who file tax returns. Is there a place where this information is more accessible to Canadians residing abroad?

[Kati Csaba]

I don't think any one department has all of that information.

At Global Affairs Canada, we have a list of people who register as travellers or who live in another country. Canadians pay their taxes, but they're not necessarily the same people. It's the same with passports. Some Canadians may apply for a passport abroad, but not necessarily because they live there; it may be because they had a problem with their passport during their trip.

So there's no way of knowing where all Canadians residing abroad live.

[Christine Normandin, Bloc, Saint-Jean, QC]

Mr. Chair, I'll save my remaining 30 seconds for the next round.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Mr. Calkins, you have five minutes, please.

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

I appreciate that we can bank our time now, Mr. Chair.