During an appearance before the Commons procedures and House affairs earlier today — one day after the Liberal government survived a confidence vote that could have plunged the country into a sudden general election — Perrault outlined the various challenges involved in holding an election during a public health crisis, such as ensuring the safety of workers and voters and managing a higher volume of mail-in ballots.
"That said, we would have delivered an election.
Perrault said Elections Canada has been hard at work ensuring measures are in place to hold a safe and secure vote, and that he has been reviewing the experiences of provincial elections agencies.
Perrault urged parliamentarians to move swiftly to consider legislative changes that would facilitate an election during a pandemic, such as a two-day weekend polling period instead of the traditional one-day Monday vote.
"Weekend voting would also assist in securing polling locations and in recruiting the very large number of poll workers that are required to run a federal election.
Perrault said weekend voting also would help to attract a more diverse pool of election workers, who tend to be retirees.
Perrault said that power would be exercised on a riding-by-riding basis in circumstances that make it impractical to hold the vote — such as a widespread lockdown due to the pandemic.
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