Letter to the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act

May 29, 2026

BY EMAIL

The Honourable David M. Arnot, Senator
Chair, Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs
The Senate of Canada
Ottawa, ON  K1A 0A4

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Dear Chair:

I am writing in follow-up to my appearance before the Standing Senate Committee on Legal and Constitutional Affairs on May 28, 2026, in relation to your pre-study of Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act.

I was asked to comment on the amendments to the Canada Elections Act that would add criteria that a political party will need to meet in order to obtain access to preliminary lists of electors when the writ is dropped (clause 5, s.93(1.1) CEA).

In its current form, s.93(1.1) states that the Chief Electoral Officer will make the lists available to any “registered party or eligible party” that requests them. The amended subsection would limit sharing of the lists to parties that met at least one of three new criteria. Pursuant to the proposed requirements in Bill C-25, a party would have to have:

• been represented in the House of Commons on the day before the day the writ was issued;
• endorsed a candidate in one of the last two elections in the district for which the list was sought; or,
• endorsed candidates in at least two thirds of all electoral districts in the last general election.

While the Chief Electoral Officer would be better placed to express a view on the merits of adding these specific criteria when determining which parties should have access to the preliminary lists of electors, these criteria appear to add controls or limits on the distribution of such lists. Since the lists themselves contain personal information, the addition of criteria governing access would, in principle, be a privacy-protective measure.

During my testimony, I also made note of my Office’s existing guidance for federal political parties on protecting personal information, produced in collaboration with the Chief Electoral Officer, which I have enclosed for the committee’s reference. Both this guidance, as well as the mandatory breach reporting framework established under Division 1.1 of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA), may serve as useful reference points in the Committee’s consideration of potential enhancements to Bill C-25, including possible drafting approaches for incorporating substantive privacy requirements that are reflective of internationally recognized privacy standards.

I hope that this information will be of assistance to the Committee.

Sincerely,

c.c.: Vincent Labrosse, Clerk of the Committee

 

Enclosure:

• Guidance for federal political parties on protecting personal information