The Canada Elections Act () is an Act of the Parliament of Canada which regulates the election of members of parliament to the House of Commons of Canada. The Act has been amended many times over Canada's history.

The Canada Elections Act limits spending on election advertising by interest groups, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in Harper v. Canada (Attorney General) (2004). It also sets out various provisions regarding the publication or broadcast of election advertising and election results.

History

In 1989, the government of Canada appointed the Royal Commission on Electoral Reform and Party Financing regarding restrictions in the Elections Act inconsistent with Section Three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In 2003, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that parts of the Act did indeed violate Section Three on the basis that it unconstitutionally limits small political parties.

In 1996, the Act was amended to establish a Register of Electors and the International Register of Electors.

In 2003, the Act was extended to cover the nomination contests of registered parties. In 2007, it was amended by the Harper government to mandate fixed election dates. Ontario's Superior Court of Justice ruled that the provisions were indeed unconstitutional. This decision was initially overturned by the Court of Appeal for Ontario, but ultimately upheld in 2003 by the Supreme Court of Canada, which agreed with the lower court's opinion that such provisions limited small parties, thus breaching Section Three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 56.1 has established them for general elections as the third Monday of October in the fourth calendar year following the last general election while retaining the power of the Governor General to dissolve Parliament earlier at their discretion. Its companion section 56.2 permits the Chief Electoral Officer (with the consent of the Cabinet) to shift the election day by either 1 day or 1 week to avoid conflicts with cultural days or with other elections in Canada.

  • Section 329 of the Act outlawed publishing election results from other ridings in constituencies where polls are still open. This section was upheld by the Supreme Court in R. v. Bryan (2007), but was repealed in 2015 because the wide use of the internet and social media had made it outdated and difficult to enforce.
  • Section 335 requires that all broadcasters make 6.5 hours of advertising available for purchase by political parties over the course of a general election during "prime time" (the evening hours for TV stations and specialty channels, and morning and afternoon drive for radio stations).
  • Section 345 requires that all CRTC-licensed over-the-air radio and television networks, which reach the majority of Canadians in the language of broadcast, allocate free time for election broadcasts (in addition to the paid availabilities described above). However, there are no restrictions on when these free-time broadcasts must air, and most of these networks now confine them to late night.
  • As of 2025, the networks subject to this provision are CBC Television, Ici Radio-Canada Télé, CBC Radio One, Ici Radio-Canada Première, TVA, and Noovo. The amount of free time per election varies by network, from roughly 3.5 hours (for the CBC's TV networks) to 62 minutes (for TVA and Noovo). The right-leaning Conservative PAC Foundation founded by high-profile Alberta conservatives Jonathan Denis, Brad Tennant and Zoe Addington in June 2015 funded advertising in support of Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper.