The Liberal-NDP trust and supply agreement, announced Monday, said the government would work with Elections Canada to explore ways to make it easier for citizens to vote, including a possible extension of election day to three days.
It comes a few weeks before election leader Stephane Perrault is ready to present a detailed report on the 2021 parliamentary elections, with recommendations for future improvements.
The text of the Liberal-NDP agreement also said the government would explore improvements in the way ballots are processed by mail and consider allowing people to vote in any polling station while driving.
In the last election, some voters complained that their ballots by mail were not counted because they did not arrive on time or were lost.
Elections Canada said in a statement that it “had no prior knowledge of the Liberal Party and the New Democratic Party ‘s commitments related to the organization’ s mandate.”
Perrault, who is in charge of managing elections in Canada, has been busy preparing his own recommendations for improvement.
“For any future changes to the Law (Elections), it will be important to take the time to properly consider their potential impact on the administration of future elections,” said Matthew McKenna, a spokesman for Elections Canada.  “The (original election director) would look forward to discussing these possible changes with MPs and sharing his experience in managing the federal election.”
NDP MP Blake Desjarlais, who won the Edmonton seat from the Tories after working hard to boost voter turnout, said the three-day vote would benefit many voters, including working-class people with multiple jobs. who may find it difficult to distinguish.  time to vote.
He said the enlarged vote was “appropriate given the size of our country”, adding that many Canadians fly to get to work and may not be home for a single day of voting.
“We have seen apathy at the highest point of all time,” he added.  “We must fight apathy in this country and restore confidence in our democratic institutions.”
In October 2020, Perrault briefed a committee of Communities on extending voting days in pandemic elections.
He told lawmakers that an entire weekend could be devoted to voting, but said it would be difficult to find large numbers of people to staff polling stations on Monday.  He also said that some polling stations may not be available on Monday.
“Suppose we have access to a school in a specific area at the weekend. We will not be able to use it on Monday and we will not be able to continue voting,” he told the Commons process committee.
The head of the election authority also suggested that the advance voting could take place on the Thursday and Friday before the election weekend, so there are two days of advance voting during the week.
Perrault’s report to parliament on the latest elections is expected to contain proposals to stop hate groups from receiving tax breaks and lists of names and addresses of voters by registering as political parties.
Safeguards would make it more difficult for extremists to gain access to privileges, including airtime, designed for political parties.
Recommendations to facilitate voting for indigenous voters – after it emerged that some First Nations did not have access to polling stations on election day – will be included in a separate Canadian Election Report.
This Canadian Press report was first published on March 27, 2022.