Compliance Agreements
COMMISSIONER OF CANADA ELECTIONS
CANADA ELECTIONS ACT
Compliance agreement
This notice is published by the Commissioner of Canada Elections pursuant to section 521 of the Canada Elections Act, S.C. 2000, c. 9 (hereafter referred to as the "Act").
On September 20, 2013, and pursuant to section 517 of the Act, the Commissioner of Canada Elections entered into a compliance agreement with Ms. Laura-Emmanuelle Gagné (hereafter referred to as the "Contracting Party"), of the city of Montréal, Quebec, who was an elector in the electoral district of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie during the 2011 federal general election.
The Contracting Party has acknowledged acts that may have constituted a failure to comply with section 7 of the Act, which provides that no elector who has voted at an election may request a second ballot at that election.
The Contracting Party has acknowledged that, on May 2, 2011, polling day for the 2011 federal general election, she voted in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie electoral district before proceeding that same day to the Laurier–Sainte-Marie electoral district and requesting and obtaining a second ballot.
Specifically, the Contracting Party has acknowledged the following:
- During the period leading up to the May 2, 2011, federal general election, she received two voter information cards in her name, one for the electoral district of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, in which she resided, and one for the neighbouring electoral district of Laurier–Sainte-Marie, in which she did not reside.
- On May 2, 2011, she went to polling division no. 103 in the electoral district of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie with three unidentified persons and a hidden camera provided by those persons, and voted.
- That same day, she went to polling division no. 002 in the electoral district of Laurier–Sainte-Marie, and found that her name had been struck off the list of electors for that electoral district and moved to the list of electors for the electoral district of Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie.
- Given that her name had been struck off the list of electors for the electoral district of Laurier–Sainte-Marie, she asked to register using a registration certificate so that she might vote, then requested and obtained another ballot, which she completed before spoiling it.
- She erroneously believed that spoiling the second ballot meant that she was not committing an offence under the Act.
- The hoax in which she took part was broadcast on May 5, 2011, on Infoman, a show produced by Zone3 Inc., on Radio-Canada.
The Contracting Party has accepted responsibility for these acts, and she is now aware of section 7 of the Act and the offence provision at paragraph 483(b) of the Act.
Prior to the conclusion of the agreement, the Commissioner took into consideration that the Contracting Party understands the importance and the seriousness of her acts and that the integrity of the voting process is based on honesty and on the trust of all Canadians in a system that respects the fundamental principle of one elector, one vote.
Ottawa, October 23, 2013
Yves Côté, QC
Commissioner of Canada Elections