Elections Canada is trying to insulate Canadian voters from false narratives and information during the next federal election by launching an online tool to help voters cut through misinformation and disinformation about the electoral process in Canada.
The ElectoFacts website, launched this week, provides factual information to debunk the most common misconceptions observed by Elections Canada officials in recent years.
“Building resilience against inaccurate information helps strengthen the overall health of democracy,” Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault said in a statement.
“ElectoFacts is one additional step electors can take to ensure they are informed and have accurate information about the electoral process.”
The ElectoFacts website says that it does not intend to establish Elections Canada as “the arbiter of truth” that will actively monitor the accuracy of statements and information distributed by parties and candidates. The agency said it will instead focus on providing correct information about elections that Canadians can easily access.
Visitors to ElectoFacts can scroll through eight categories where disinformation is taking place:
Special ballots.
Ways to vote.
The counting process.
Voting technology.
Foreign interference.
The administration of elections.
The administration of Elections Canada.
Campaign finance.
Each category displays the “inaccurate information observed” with an accompanying and detailed explanation of what is accurate.
Special ballots
On the subject of special ballots, or mail-in ballots, for example, Elections Canada said the two largest misconceptions were that 205,000 mail-in ballots were “lost, ignored” or deliberately not counted during the 2021 federal election.
The agency’s counter-information explains it issued more than one million special ballots in 2021 and 883,000, or 87 per cent of them, were returned on time and were counted.
Ballots that arrived late were not counted but have been preserved for a ten-year period, ElectoFacts website reads.
The special ballots information also explains the checks and balances that have been built into the voting system to ensure that people do not vote by mail and then vote again in person.
Other examples of misinformation and disinformation include whether votes can be bought by bribing Canadians, whether non-citizens can vote, whether ballot machines are used to count votes and whether Elections Canada rigs the vote.
Workers prepare the bins with names of candidates into which special ballots from national, international, Canadian Forces and incarcerated electors will be counted and organized, at Elections Canada’s distribution centre in Ottawa on election night of the 44th Canadian general election, on Sept. 20, 2021. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
The Canadian Election Misinformation Project, co-managed by McGill University and the University of Toronto, also looked at the issue of misinformation and disinformation during the 2021 election.
Their report found that while there was “widespread” misinformation and disinformation, its overall impact on the results of the election were minimal.
The report said messages claiming that Canadians who were not fully vaccinated would be unable to vote were widely circulated on social media.
The report also found false messages were being spread on social media claiming that candidates were being removed from ballots and that machines counted all the votes cast, when in fact all votes are counted by hand.
2016 U.S. election disinfo raised alarm bells
Aengus Bridgman, director of the Canadian Election Misinformation Project, told CBC News the 2016 election in the United States, which saw an aggressive and unprecedented Russian disinformation campaign, raised alarm bells in the West over the threat to democracy.
“If our election results are later shown to have been the result of a disinformation campaign that was decisive in an election, it would cause an enormous diplomatic and constitutional crisis,” he said.
Bridgman said it is important to get the right information out there, proactively, where people can access it before the election disinformation begins to spread, because once false information has spread and gained traction, it is much harder to counter.
He said his research has shown that Elections Canada is one of Canada’s most trusted institutions, and so having that information hosted on its website will help establish what is, and is not, factual.
“There’s pretty good evidence that this type of thing should be effective,” he said.
Bridgman said Canadians can also help to fight disinformation in their everyday lives by resisting the temptation to cut family, friends and neighbours off and push them out of their lives if they start espousing views based on disinformation.
“Keeping lines of conversation open is incredibly important,” he said. “One of the things that can happen is that people can join [disinformation] communities and drive their real physical committees away, and then they become isolated and … that becomes very dangerous.”
Make election disinformation illegal, chief electoral officer says
After the 2021 federal election, Perrault published a report that called for a crackdown on hate groups, improved regulation of third parties and new laws to make it illegal to spread disinformation about elections and voting.
The report’s recommendations were based on an analysis of what took place in both the 2019 and 2021 federal elections in Canada.
Perhaps most significantly, Perrault’s report called for legislative changes to make it illegal to spread information that disrupts an election or undermines its legitimacy.
The report said that action must be taken because the continued spread of disinformation could “jeopardize trust in the entire electoral system on which democracies rest.”
Perrault said there are laws on the books to deal with disinformation that were used when misleading robocalls were made to voters in Guelph, Ont., during the 2011 federal election.
“But there’s nothing right now in the legislation where there is a deliberate campaign to undermine the process or undermine confidence in the result,” he said in 2022. “This complements a number of existing provisions.”
JASPER, ALTA. – The government of Canada will forgo up to $15.2 million in rental fees charged to the municipality of Jasper, Alta., as well as its residents and business owners over the next few years.
A devastating wildfire destroyed one-third of the Rocky Mountain tourist town in July, including 800 units of housing.
Because Jasper is located within a national park, residents, business owners and the town itself lease their homes and buildings from Parks Canada.
Although the fees included in the lease agreements vary, and in the case of residential homes and businesses in town the fee is just $1, Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault said Thursday this rent relief will help the town recover from the damage.
On Wednesday, Boissonnault was appointed by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the federal government’s ministerial lead on the Jasper rebuild.
“This rent relief will support lessees and licensees whose properties have been affected and are experiencing financial hardship and new costs to rebuild or repair damaged properties,” said Boissonnault in a news release.
Parks Canada has nearly 1,300 lease agreements in town, and 139 leases within the park.
The municipality won’t pay rent on its facilities to Parks Canada until 2027, while a few dozen businesses in the park that pay market rent will receive partial or full rent forgiveness until 2026 depending on fire damage and revenue.
Jasper Mayor Richard Ireland said in a release Thursday that the town is grateful for the government’s decision.
“By continuing to work effectively together, we can ensure that our local businesses and residents have the supports they need to help in our recovery process,” Ireland said.
Boissonnault also announced Thursday that certain backcountry camping spots in the park are now open for booking for the fall and winter season.
He also said that Maligne Road, which provides vehicle access to the famed Maligne Lake, will reopen on Friday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
EDMONTON – A month after announcing its money would be off the table, the Alberta government says it’s recommitting its $1.53-billion share towards Calgary’s beleaguered Green Line light rail project.
It’s prompted Alberta NDP Leader Naheed Nenshi to accuse the government of incompetence he claims could still cost taxpayers another $1 billion in penalties over cancelled contracts.
Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen and Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said in a joint statement Thursday they’ve agreed to continue work on the southern leg of what was a $6.2-billion transit project.
Calgary city council voted to wind it down last month after Dreeshen said the province would pull its funding without a redesign and extension of the Green Line’s route.
The city estimated it would cost $850 million to shut it down on top of the $1.3 billion already spent, but in late September Gondek made a last-ditch effort to ask the province to help salvage some pieces of the project they could agree on.
The two leaders said the province’s previously committed money will be available to support continuing work on the transit line, preserving more than 700 jobs.
In the meantime, a consulting firm hired by the province continues to work on a new alignment to meet Dreeshen’s demand that the downtown section not go underground.
Dreeshen has criticized the Green Line as a multibillion-dollar boondoggle that was poorly engineered and not properly costed from the beginning.
In recent months, the minister has pointed the finger at former Calgary mayor Nenshi – now Alberta NDP leader – calling it the “Nenshi nightmare.”
For his part, Nenshi has blamed the UCP government for delays that led to added costs.
In a statement Thursday, Nenshi said the United Conservative Party government is desperately backing down and trying to solve a catastrophe of its own making.
“Minister Dreeshen told hundreds of workers that they were OK in August, that they would lose their jobs in September, and now in October that they’ll be OK until Christmas. Maybe. These are real people, Minister Dreeshen, and they deserve better from you,” said Nenshi.
Nenshi said financial penalties for cancelled contracts will still cost taxpayers and called for a full public accounting.
As for the city’s previous vision for the Green Line, Gondek told reporters Thursday it is still being wrapped up.
“That project is over. That project was terminated on Sept. 3 when we heard from the province of Alberta that they didn’t wish to carry on with that alignment. This is a new project,” said Gondek.
The final bill for the wind-down remains to be seen, and it’s unclear how spending in the interim might be limited, she said.
“For now, we’re progressing work on an LRT that’s much needed in our city,” she said.
The federal government, which also committed to putting $1.53 billion into the previous iteration of the Green Line, will need to weigh in on whatever the new alignment might be.
The Calgary Construction Association welcomed Thursday’s announcement, saying it gets the project back on track.
“The Green Line LRT is essential not only for connecting hundreds of thousands of Calgarians but also for driving job creation and economic growth in our city,” said president and CEO Bill Black in a statement.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
EDMONTON – Nurses in Alberta are set to vote later this month on a mediator’s recommended settlement with their employers.
The United Nurses of Alberta says an online ratification vote will take place on Oct. 30.
It says the mediator is recommending pay increases ranging from 12 to 22 per cent over four years, as well as significant hikes to some pay premiums.
The union had been seeking 30 per cent pay raises over two years while the Alberta government’s standing offer is 7.5 per cent over four years.
Nurses had been mulling next steps, including a possible strike vote, because recent contract talks with the province had been faltering over disagreements around pay and staffing.
The United Nurses of Alberta represents more than 30,000 nurses and the proposed deal involves five employers, including Alberta Health Services and Covenant Health.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
