Thank you, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to speak with the committee today about the 45th general election.
I would like at the outset to express my gratitude to the 343 returning officers and their teams, as well as to the more than 230,000 Canadians who served their neighbours and allowed them to cast their vote.
Going into this election, in addition to ensuring the transition to the new electoral map, which we obviously did, Elections Canada focused its efforts on securing the electoral process and improving voting services. While these areas of action presented challenges, which I will address over the next few minutes, the delivery of the 45th general election was an overall success.
Since the previous election in 2021, there have been important discussions about election security and foreign interference.
In the lead-up to and during the election, we continued to work with our security partners to understand potential threats and to secure our IT systems and the overall electoral process. I can say today that Elections Canada did not experience any breaches to our IT infrastructure or interference with our electoral operations during the election.
The Hogue Commission described disinformation as the single biggest threat to our democracy. To counter information manipulation, we developed a range of information products, including a multimedia Voter Information Campaign that is available in 50 languages, as well as detailed content on electoral integrity mechanisms.
We also monitored the information environment to observe inaccurate narratives about the electoral process, both before and during the election. While we did observe an increase in inaccurate narratives, we were able to ensure that Canadians had access to correct information about the electoral process and to promptly correct misinformation through our various channels, such as our repository of official communications and our social media posts.
With respect to improving voter services, we put in place the broadest range of services ever offered in any general election.
The vote on campus program was delivered for the first time outside a fixed-date election context. Despite the fact that the election coincided with the end of the spring semester, around 76,000 electors voted at 109 service points in 96 post-secondary institutions.
Early engagement with indigenous communities before the election also allowed Elections Canada to offer more flexible voting services to those who wanted such services, including in remote, isolated and low-density communities. Thanks to this engagement, advance voting services in communities increased by 127%, more than doubling, and election day services by 8%.
While we were able to better serve and collaborate with indigenous communities overall, a lack of engagement on our part in Nunavik led to operational challenges, and some electors were unable to cast their ballot as a result. This is clearly unacceptable. This is why I launched a fact-finding enquiry to determine exactly what went wrong so that we can address the shortfalls and make sure it does not happen again. The conclusions of the enquiry will be published later this fall. Our intention moving forward is to work with the communities and various organizations to better serve electors in Nunavik and all first nations, Inuit and Métis communities.
Overall, close to 20 million electors voted during the 45th general election, resulting in a voter turnout of 69%. This is the highest since 1993. Importantly, a record number of 8.8 million, or 44%, voted prior to election day. Of these, 7.5 million voted at advance polls and 1.2 million used a special ballot. In comparison, just 25 years ago, less than 7% of those who voted did so before election day. This ongoing trend shows a deep and lasting evolution in Canadians' voting behaviour and service expectations. It also puts enormous pressure on our infrastructure and, in particular, on our returning officers.
Any election is a major logistical undertaking and requires the coordinated efforts of an extraordinary number of people over an immense territory. It is done without any permanent infrastructure during a very short period and based on a calendar that is unknown ahead of time.
In a snap election context, with only 36 days, the ability of returning officers to secure polling sites, to recruit a sufficient number of poll workers, not just overall but in each and every community, and to offer a range of special voting services may have reached its limit. In some cases, these pressures may have also contributed to some of the issues we experienced with special ballot voting in a few electoral districts, which I mentioned in my report.
We are currently reviewing special ballot training, control mechanisms and processes to minimize the risk of errors, and we will implement changes in the coming months as we prepare for the next election, but it is important to also examine how we can adapt to the evolving needs and service expectations of Canadians, not just for the next election but for future ones as well.
As I indicated in my 2022 recommendations report, outside of a fixed-date election context, a short 36-day campaign may not be sufficient to meet those evolving service needs. Increasing early voting services, whether by adding advance polling days, as was contemplated in the last Parliament, or simply increasing service points within the same four advance polling days, as we did in this election, requires more lead time.
We have also been testing electronic lists of electors in by-elections and will continue to do so in order to modernize our processes and make them more efficient and flexible. The introduction of technology at the polls to serve electors, even as we maintain our paper ballot, needs to be gradual and prudent.
To conclude, Canada has a strong electoral process built on gradual change and adaptation. My report, as was the case with previous reports, is an opportunity to reflect on what adjustments are necessary to meet the evolving expectations of Canadians.
I look forward to answering members’ questions.
