Trudeau Liberals move to expand voting period, mail-in ballot use ahead of 2025 election

The Trudeau government is engaged in secret negotiations with the New Democratic Party (NDP) – which props up the Liberal minority government – to produce “electoral reform” legislation. 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has talked about rejigging the Canadian election system in the past. 

Federal elections in Canada are managed by Elections Canada and Canadian elections are defined by voters who must be Canadian citizens with valid ID. Ballots are filled out by hand at designated voting areas and then counted by election workers.

According to CTV News, Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc and NDP MP and democratic reform critic Daniel Blaikie are meeting to change that process to allow for an “expanded” voting period of at least three days, allowing voters to cast their ballots at any polling place and increasing the use of mail-in ballots.

Canadians already have access to early voting but must report in person to their designated polling area and present a valid ID. 

It’s not clear what the timeline of these negotiations is. Canada’s next federal election is scheduled for the fall of 2025. 

LeBlanc’s office was tight-lipped when contacted by CTV News about the progress or final objective of the negotiations with the NDP, only confirming that the defacto coalition partners are  "currently working on" the legislation and that the "next steps will be communicated in due course."

"Access to the vote is a fundamental principle of Canadian democracy, and our government is committed to further strengthening it," spokesperson Jean-Sébastien Comeau told CTV News. 

NDP representative Blaikie offered more information, saying that the parties are discussing concepts like a “voting weekend” and increased hours to vote.

"There's more than one way to do that. I think the real goal is to make voting more accessible… So we've tried to keep an open mind about it," Blaikie told CTV.

In the United States, so-called “electoral reform” has led to demands for illegal immigrants to be allowed to vote, ID not being required to cast a ballot, and the process of mail-in ballots being hijacked by “ballot harvesting” where a third party can collect a voter’s ballot and potentially tamper with it before delivering it to the election office.

Some states have tried to stop ballot harvesting but have been blocked by the courts.