Bill S-202 explained in plain English
An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (repeal of fixed election dates)
Federal Parliament bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Parliament of Canada snapshot for 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. MP vote breakdowns appear when the House of Commons publishes a recorded division export for that bill. Senate and House stage details include official debate/sitting links when LEGISinfo publishes them.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill would repeal the provisions in the Canada Elections Act that set fixed dates for federal general elections.
Bill S-202 proposes to remove the fixed election dates from the Canada Elections Act. Currently, federal general elections are set to occur on the third Monday in October of the fourth calendar year after the previous election. This bill would repeal those provisions, meaning election timing would revert to the Governor General's discretion, as it was before fixed dates were introduced.
- Removes the current requirement for federal general elections to be held on a fixed date.
- Repeals the sections of the Canada Elections Act that establish a fixed election date.
- Reverts the timing of federal general elections to be at the discretion of the Governor General.
- Modifies how polling days are determined, particularly when they fall on a Monday.
- Federal political parties
- Electoral officers
- The Governor General
- Members of Parliament
- Canadian voters
- The current right to have a federal election occur on a fixed date would be removed.
- The power of the Governor General to dissolve Parliament and set election dates would be restored.
- Rules for calculating election timelines if the polling day is a Tuesday are retained and adjusted.
- The bill repeals the provision that set the first fixed election date as Monday, October 19, 2009.
- The bill does not specify a new framework for determining election timing, returning this to the discretion of the Governor General.
- The precise circumstances or considerations the Governor General will use to set election dates are not detailed in the bill.
Removes the provisions that mandate fixed dates for general elections and modifies rules related to polling day calculations when elections fall on a Monday or Tuesday.
Source: Sections 1, 2, and 3 of Bill S-202
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
Official textParliamentary Process
We don't have a plain-language summary for First reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Introduction and first reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Debate at second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Sponsor’s speech yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Debate at second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Debate at second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Response speech yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Debate at second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Debate at second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Debate at second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Third reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for First reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Second reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Consideration in committee yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Report stage yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
We don't have a plain-language summary for Third reading yet. The official source linked below is the full record.
Debate and sitting links point to official parliamentary sources when LEGISinfo publishes them. Any plain-language discussion summaries should be generated from those official texts and reviewed before public display.
Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced