Bill C-250

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First Reading

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Exception	(4) Subsection (3) does not apply to postal or courier workers or services.
Offences	33.7 No person shall
	(a) as principal or agent, or having charge or control of the circulation of, or obtaining of signatures to, any petition, intentionally misrepresent or intentionally make any false statement concerning the content, purport or effect of the petition to any person who signs, or desires to sign, or is requested to sign, or who makes inquiries with reference to the petition, or to whom it is presented for signature;
	(b) wilfully and knowingly circulate, publish or exhibit any false statement or misrepresentation concerning the content, purport or effect of a petition for the purpose of obtaining any signature to, or persuading or influencing any person to sign, the petition;
	(c) refuse to allow a prospective signer to read a petition;
	(d) conceal or obscure the summary of the proposal from the view of a prospective signer;
	(e) solicit any person circulating the petition to affix any false or forged signature, or cause or permit such signature to be affixed; or
	(f) knowingly sign the same petition more than once, sign a petition when not an eligible voter, or make a false statement on a petition.
Number of copies	33.8 (1) There is no limit to the number of copies of a petition.
Original	(2) Copies of a petition become part of the original petition when submitted to the Clerk.
Validity of signatures	33.9 (1) Upon receipt of a completed petition, the Clerk shall cause a random check to be carried out on the validity of the signatures and of all other information stated on the petition, and shall publicly announce the results of the check.
Invalidity	(2) If a random check of not less than five thousand signatures reveals
	(a) a number of invalid signatures that, by extrapolation, indicates that the petition lacks sufficient valid signatures to exceed the number required under subsection 3(1.1) or 3(1.2), as the case may be, or
	(b) that the petition contains materially incorrect information,
	the Clerk shall not place the petition on the referendum ballot.
If no check	(3) If the Clerk does not complete and announce the result of the check required by subsection (1) within sixty days of receiving the petition, the signatures and other information on the petition shall be considered valid.
Conditional writ issued	(4) After the Clerk has confirmed that a petition has a sufficient number of signatures to exceed the number required under subsection 3(1.2), the Clerk shall issue a conditional writ certifying that the requirements of subsection 3(1.2) or 3(1.4), as the case may be, have been met, and that a referendum will be held on the question that is the subject of the petition, subject to the question meeting the other requirements of this Act.
Orders	(5) The Clerk may issue any order necessary to carry out the duties required by this section, but not so as to restrict the ability of an elector to petition under this Act.
	21. The part of subsection 34(1) of the Act before paragraph (a) is replaced by the following:
General offences	34. (1) Every person who contravenes subsection 10(2), 16(4), 18(4), 20(1), 32(4) or 33.2(1) or section 33.8 is guilty of an offence and is liable
	22. The Act is amended by adding the following after section 38:
	REFERENDUM HELD AT SAME TIME AS ELECTION
Ballot boxes	38.1 Where a referendum is held concurrently with a general election or by-election, a separate ballot box shall be provided for the ballot paper containing the referendum questions.
Ballot papers	38.2 (1) Where a referendum is held concurrently with a general election or by-election, a separate ballot paper shall be provided for the referendum questions.
Order of questions	(2) If there is more than one question on the ballot paper, the ordering of the questions on the paper shall be
	(a) first, questions placed on the ballot pursuant to subsection 3(1.1), with the questions that received the larger numbers of signatures in the petitioning process being placed above those that received lesser numbers of signatures;
	(b) second, questions placed on the ballot pursuant to subsection 3(1.3), with the questions that received the larger numbers of signatures in the petitioning process being placed above those that received lesser numbers of signatures; and
	(c) third, questions placed on the ballot pursuant to subsection 3(1), in the order determined by the Clerk.
Form of ballot paper	(3) A ballot paper shall be in prescribed form and shall have a counterfoil and a stub, with a line of perforations between the ballot paper and the counterfoil and between the counterfoil and the stub.
	23. Section 42 of the Act is amended by adding the following after subsection (2):
Amendments to this Act	(3) No amendment shall be made to this Act unless it has first been submitted for approval by referendum and approved in accordance with this Act.
Transitional; writs within first three months	24. No writ authorizing a referendum may be issued, nor may any petition committee be registered, within three months after the day on which this Act comes into force unless, before the expiration of those three months, the Clerk has published in the Canada Gazette a notice that the necessary preparations for the bringing into operation of this Act have been made.

Bill C-250

REFERENDUM HELD AT SAME TIME AS ELECTION