S-283An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (demographic information)

What it does

• Requires certain registered parties, those whose candidates won at least 2% of valid votes nationwide or 5% in the districts where they ran, to post candidate selection rules, diversity programs, progress reports, and annual updates on their websites.
• Requires those parties to post plans and rules about nominating women candidates, including target numbers or percentages, rules for some by-elections or when a sitting MP does not run again, and progress toward those targets.
• Requires parties with no diversity program, plan, or rule to post a statement explaining why and, if any, when they plan to adopt one, plus contact information for questions.
• Gives the Chief Electoral Officer power to collect voluntary self-identification questionnaires from candidates, nomination contestants, and leadership contestants, then publish anonymized reports on demographic information after general elections, by-elections, and leadership contests.
• Extends the non-voluntary deregistration process so the Chief Electoral Officer can act if a party or officer fails to meet the new public disclosure duties.