An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (demographic information)

This bill, sponsored in the Senate, makes two main changes to how Canada handles diversity and demographic information in federal elections.

First, it requires larger registered political parties — those whose candidates won at least 2% of the national vote, or at least 5% of the vote in the ridings where they ran candidates, in the last general election — to publicly post certain information on their websites. This includes any rules or policies they use to select candidates, any programs aimed at increasing diversity, and specific information about efforts to nominate women, including targets for women candidates, rules for nominating women in ridings where an incumbent is retiring or resigning, and rules for close-race ridings. Parties must update this information yearly, explain publicly if they haven't adopted such policies, and post contact information for someone who can answer questions about these obligations. These party-related rules would take effect two years after the bill becomes law, giving parties time to prepare.

Second, the bill requires Elections Canada's Chief Electoral Officer to collect demographic information — including data relevant to "designated groups" under the Employment Equity Act (women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, and visible minorities) — from candidates, nomination contestants, and leadership contestants, using a voluntary self-identification questionnaire. This data must be collected in a way that allows analysis of overlapping characteristics (for example, being both a woman and a member of a visible minority). The information is confidential and can only be used to produce anonymized public reports: one within 90 days after a general election, and others following by-elections or leadership contests. These reports must then be tabled in the House of Commons by the Speaker.

This bill requires certain registered political parties to publish diversity-related information about candidate selection and requires the Chief Electoral Officer to collect and report demographic data on candidates, nomination contestants and leadership contestants.

• Who is obligated — registered parties whose candidates won at least 2% of the national vote or 5% of the vote in ridings they contested in the most recent general election must publish on their websites their candidate-selection rules, diversity programs, targets for women candidates, and a named contact person for complaints, updated at least once a year.
• Fallback disclosure — a party lacking any such program, plan, or rule must instead publish a statement explaining why, with an optional timeline for adopting one; the bill does not require parties to adopt any particular policy or target.
• Data collection power — the Chief Electoral Officer must give a self-identification questionnaire to candidates, nomination contestants, and leadership contestants, and may collect "any demographic information" considered appropriate, including variables for designated groups (as defined under the Employment Equity Act), in a format allowing intersectional analysis — the specific variables are left to the Chief Electoral Officer's discretion rather than fixed in the bill.
• Participation and confidentiality — responses are voluntary, and collected data is confidential, to be used only for the mandated reports.
• Reporting duties — the Chief Electoral Officer must publish anonymized demographic reports within 90 days after a general election, and at a time of their choosing after by-elections or leadership contests; these reports must be tabled in the House of Commons by the Speaker without delay, but are not subject to a vote.
• Delayed effect — the disclosure obligations on parties (clause 3) only come into force on the second anniversary of royal assent, while the data-collection and reporting provisions are not subject to the same delay.