Canada debates elections bill
Canadian MPs spent recent sessions debating a proposed elections bill while broader discussions touched on corruption and shifting foreign‑policy alignments like Peru’s US‑China stance. (x.com) Social posts tracking the debate also highlighted cross‑bench reactions and amendments under consideration this week. (x.com)
Canada’s Liberal government has put a new elections bill before Parliament that would ban some political deepfakes, tighten donation and privacy rules, and make long-ballot protests harder to stage. (canada.ca) Bill C-25, the Strong and Free Elections Act, was introduced in the House of Commons on March 26, 2026, by House leader Steven MacKinnon and is now listed by Parliament as being at second reading. (parl.ca) The government says the bill would extend some anti-interference rules beyond the formal campaign period, ban realistic deepfakes of electoral actors meant to mislead voters, add new privacy-policy and breach-disclosure requirements for federal parties, and increase enforcement powers and penalties. (canada.ca) A big immediate target is the “long ballot” tactic, where protest organizers have signed up dozens of candidates in a single riding. The bill would let each voter sign only one candidate’s nomination paper and require each candidate to have a unique official agent. (canada.ca) That issue had already reached a House committee. On March 24, 2026, the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs presented a report calling for changes after recent contests in which ballots stretched to nearly a metre and, in one upcoming Terrebonne byelection, 48 candidates had already been confirmed when CBC reported the story. (ourcommons.ca) (cbc.ca) The bill also sits in the shadow of Canada’s foreign-interference debate. Ottawa said C-25 draws on recommendations from the public inquiry into foreign interference, the chief electoral officer and the Commissioner of Canada Elections. (canada.ca) Alongside the bill, the government announced C$31.5 million over five years for Global Affairs Canada’s Rapid Response Mechanism, which tracks foreign information threats, and said it would update the cabinet directive for responding to election threats. (canada.ca) Critics and supporters are arguing over where to draw the line between protecting elections and constraining political activity. CBC reported the bill would also bar donations made with cryptocurrency, money orders or prepaid cards, while MacKinnon said the long-ballot tactic had become “harassing behaviour”; protest organizers have said their campaigns are meant to force attention on electoral reform. (cbc.ca 1) (cbc.ca 2) For now, the measure is still early in the legislative process: Parliament’s bill tracker shows no recorded votes, no committee study and no Senate action yet. The next test is whether MPs move C-25 past second reading and into detailed amendment fights in committee. (parl.ca)
