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

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Good morning, Mr. Perrault. Welcome back to our committee.

I'm going to ask my questions in English.

I wanted to ask you a few questions about Bill C-3. I'm not sure if you're familiar with the bill. It is the lost Canadians bill, which has now been passed and received royal assent. I want to drive the conversation about Canadians who are born of Canadians abroad and may not necessarily have their Canadian citizenship yet, but will be provided one.

Can you give us an idea of how that process is going to go for Canadians who become Canadians through Bill C-3 and do not live in Canada? What is the plan? What are the requirements or any legal procedures they may have to go through? The requirement to be added to the register to vote is that you must have lived in Canada for a specific amount of time. I'm curious to know about that. I see you're already shaking your head, so let's hear you on it.

[Stéphane Perrault]

Following the Supreme Court decision in the case of Frank and Duong, Parliament amended the legislation. Any person who has Canadian citizenship and who lives abroad may register.

The act provides that the place in which they vote, the place in which they register in Canada, is their “last place of ordinary residence”. However, the act also states that every person is deemed to have a place of ordinary residence in Canada, and section 9 says that if we are unable to determine by the normal rules what is the “place of ordinary residence”, then the relevant election officer—which in this case would be Madame Duquette and her team—would come to a determination of what that place is. It could be where the family members in Canada are or last were. It could be a place of work. Even though they are abroad, they may have worked in Canada. It would be some place of connection.

At the end of the day, we are required to find the most appropriate location for that elector. As I indicated earlier, once that location is identified, the person stays with that location until and if they come to Canada to reside again—not just to visit but to actually reside in Canada.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

Okay. That covers a multitude of questions I had for you on that front.

The last time I was here and was asking questions on this specific question, we were talking about taxation—Canadians who pay taxes versus those who don't and whether or not they have the right to vote.

I'd like to hear you on that. Are there are any rules around Canadians who pay taxes and those who don't?

[Stéphane Perrault]

The Supreme Court was very clear in the case of Frank and Duong. All Canadian citizens, wherever they live, wherever they pay taxes, if they pay taxes, have the same constitutional right to vote, and there is no flexibility there. The ruling was very firm on that.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

There were a couple of questions from colleagues in the room who are concerned about what is considered a home riding for someone who has never resided in Canada. Can you expand a bit on that? Maybe both of you can decide who answers this question.

We're just curious to know, for a Canadian who may become a Canadian citizen through Bill C-3, how they choose the riding. Do they decide what riding they pick? Let's say they have different sides of their families. A family member may come from Alberta and another one may come from southwestern Ontario. Who decides where they vote, and how do they make that decision?

[Stéphane Perrault]

It will be for the elector to make that decision transparently in conversation with our team. The choice has to reflect some connection. As you indicated in your question—it's a very good example—there may be more than one legitimate place to anchor, if I can use that term, the elector for the purpose of the electoral process. However, again, once that is determined, no movement is allowed, so it's a one-time determination.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

There have also been discussions around the fact that many ballots were requested in the last election, in the 2025 general election, but not many were returned. Is this something that we want to keep doing if the request is being made but the return is really low? Maybe there's a lack of interest among Canadians who live abroad in voting in Canada.

[Stéphane Perrault]

That's a very rich question. I don't know that I'll be able to answer all of it in the time allowed.

There was double the number of international voters. There was a high interest in this election. However, not being a fixed-date election, more than half of those electors applied during the election period. What you see if you divide the calendar for the election into four blocks.... The first block is right off at the issuance of the writs. Those who are already registered are sent a kit. There the return rate is very high. Then there's the first third of people who apply—time-wise the first third—and the return rate is good. However, as you progress in the calendar, it dramatically declines. Those who apply in the last segment have, if I'm not mistaken, an 8% return rate.

[Arielle Kayabaga, Liberal, London West, ON]

I have 30 seconds left, so I'm going to ask you this question really quickly.

Our last witness talked about paying a fee of $124 to return her ballot in a fast manner. Is that fair, given that other Canadians are not paying that kind of fee? How can the process be better for them.

You have 20 seconds.

[Stéphane Perrault]

We offer all Canadians the opportunity, if they have access to a consulate or embassy, to return their ballots through it. Elections Canada pays the delivery service through the embassy, so there is an expedited process.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Thank you so much. You're over time.

Ms. Normandin, you have the floor for six minutes.

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

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Mr. Perrault, thank you once again for your great availability.

I'd like to start with a general knowledge question, because I don't know how to vote from abroad.

In terms of the kit that voters receive, is it a white ballot on which they have to write the candidate's name?

It has to be said that the candidates aren't necessarily known from the start of the election. Is that an obstacle or, on the contrary, is it a way to ensure that voters abroad keep up a bit with what's going on in local politics and take some interest in the election campaign, since they have to consult the Elections Canada website to see who the candidates are? Are there pros and cons? I'd like to hear your opinion on that.

[Stéphane Perrault]

I'm going to add to what you're saying. Yes, there are pros and cons to that. It isn't an easy question.

We know that ballots can take an average of 12 days before getting back to us, but that varies greatly depending on where in the world the voter is. The data isn't the same for Cincinnati as for Asia, for example. We also know that, on average, voters wait six days before returning their ballots to us in the mail. However, those figures have to be taken with a grain of salt. They come from surveys we've done in the past.

It's likely that if voters receive a kit at the beginning of the election campaign, they'll wait until the end of the nominations, which is 21 days before the election, to return their ballots to us. As a result, the return of the ballots is delayed to some extent, at least up to day 21, based on the countdown.

That means that where voters are in the world can have an effect on the success rate of returning the ballots. That's a possibility, but there's usually enough time.

Certainly, if the Canada Elections Act made it possible to put the name of the party on the special ballot, which isn't currently the case, it would speed up the process, but there would be other disadvantages related to that. It's a public policy decision.

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

I'd like to hear your opinion on how potential voters are contacted.

I understand that they have to register on a list. Those who are registered may have already established some form of voting habit. I imagine they're fairly regular voters.

However, how do you contact the others? Do you know if there are any initiatives in place? Are there parallel forums for Canadians voting abroad? Should the government focus more on contacting potential voters rather than broadening the ways in which they can vote?

[Stéphane Perrault]

Yes, I think that if there were a project to launch, it would be in communications. That doesn't mean it's easy. We're talking about a diaspora here, people who are all over the world. The main mode of communication is our website.

We also work with the Department of Foreign Affairs to give them information, which they then distribute to all the embassies and consulates. In a way, that means there's a mechanism for disseminating information, but it requires voters to take a certain amount of interest in the first place.

We also have social media campaigns, content that spreads naturally and paid advertising that gets shown. There are strategic targets. I'm not an expert on social media targeting, but there's advertising that targets those communities.

It would be a good idea, then, to see whether that can be improved in some way, to better educate voters not only on the opportunity to vote, but also on the importance of returning their ballots on time, and to inform them of how to do so.

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

I have a sub-question. I had already touched on the subject a bit.

Do voters who are already registered have established voting habits? Is that something you see, or is that not necessarily the case?

[Stéphane Perrault]

I would say that voters who are already registered internationally have a higher voter turnout than the general population. There are a number of reasons for that. First, the fact that they have registered shows an interest. Second, the fact that they receive a kit at home can spark or heighten an interest. I won't get lost in explanations, but the data shows that there's a slightly higher voter turnout among those voters.

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

In terms of the various ways to vote from abroad, you talked about the possibility of going to a consulate or an embassy. Some countries offer other options, such as proxy voting.

Has your organization ever studied that option? That approach could be offered, for example, to someone who lives in a very remote region, who would like to vote but doesn't have access to good postal services and would have to drive hours to get to the consulate to vote. They could then ask a family member or a loved one who lives closer to the consulate to do it for them. Is that something that has been studied?

[Stéphane Perrault]

That has been studied. In fact, it used to exist in the act, but not for international voters. Before 1993, there was proxy voting, but it was decided that it would be best to get rid of it.

I'm going to posit two reasons for that decision: first, the notion of the secrecy of the vote; and second, the leap of faith that voters make when they entrust their vote to someone else. Those are probably the two main flaws of proxy voting.

That said, there's also an administrative burden that comes with confirming that the proxy does indeed have the mandate from the voter, which can take time. The debate could be reopened, but at the time, it was decided that as long as there were administrative steps, it was preferable to expand the special ballot rather than pursue proxy voting and expand it internationally.

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

Have any studies been done on electronic voting?

[Stéphane Perrault]

There have been all kinds of studies on electronic voting. I'm not a fan of it when it comes to national elections. It's an option to explore in other contexts. I'm not aware of any G7 country that uses electronic voting. Most of the countries that have considered it have backed away from the cybersecurity challenges it poses. It's also a matter of trust. It's all well and good to have security, but people have to believe in it and trust the system.

I don't think it's feasible at the moment. That was also the unanimous conclusion reached by the parliamentary committee that studied this issue a few years ago.

[The Chair, Liberal, Chris Bittle]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Van Popta, you have five minutes.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley Township—Fraser Heights, BC]

Thank you to the witnesses for being here. For Mr. Perrault, it's the second or third time.

I have a question about the integrity of the balloting process and where the ballots go, where they end up.

First, I want to clarify one thing, following up on the questions from my colleague Mr. Cooper, about who receives voting kits abroad. My understanding is that once a person is registered and on the international electors list, whatever it's called, that person is there permanently, subject to confirmation every 18 months or so that they're still on it.

[Stéphane Perrault]

That's correct.

[Tako Van Popta, Conservative, Langley Township—Fraser Heights, BC]

The ballot kit then goes to all of the people who are on that list and have reaffirmed within the last 18 months. Is that correct?