No matter the weather, elections in N.B. cannot be delayed

As a blizzard tore across Prince Edward Island earlier this month, election officials worried about a local byelection.

"When we woke up on Monday morning, it was very obvious that no one was going to be getting out to the polls," said P.E.I. chief electoral officer Tim Garrity.

"I mean, the plows were pulled off the roads. This was just not something that was going to happen."

He was able to push back the election by two days, since P.E.I. grants him the power to delay an election because of an  "unforeseen emergency."

But in New Brunswick, there is no such power.

Since 2019, New Brunswick's chief electoral officer has been asking the government to act on a list of 108 recommendations to modernize the province's election legislation. Kim Poffenroth said changes have been made to municipal election rules, but little else.

Pandemic pointed out problems

When the pandemic threatened the 2020 election, Poffenroth began asking for the ability to delay an election in emergency situations.

She addressed the issue again recently when she spoke to a legislative committee. She pointed to delayed elections in the Northwest Territories from wildfires and to P.E.I.'s snowstorm delay.

"In both of those cases, the chief electoral officer had the authority to delay voting by one or two days so people could actually leave their homes," Poffenroth said.

"Those authorities do simply not exist in our Elections Act."

Despite several memorandums to the executive council asking to introduce legislation, "the progress is very little," Poffenroth said.

Two weeks after appearing before the committee, she said she hasn't heard anything from the Premier's Office about her request for changes in case New Brunswick faces its own unforeseen emergencies on election days.

The province's chief electoral officer has been asking for electoral reform measures to be introduced since 2019, but she says little progress has been made by the government. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

The Executive Council Office has not responded to a request for comment on why Poffenroth's suggestions have not been accepted.

Poffenroth said she's going to hold off on pushing for changes now while she focuses on preparing for an election this year.

"After my lack of success in the fall of 2023, I said, 'I'm just going to put a pin in that.'"

But she remains concerned.

"It's one of those powers that you hope to never use because actually making the decision to use it is not taken lightly," she said in an interview.

"But if you need to make the decision, having the ability to be able to do it is equally important."

Severe weather events increasing, says P.E.I. officer

Over on the Island, Garrity said the decision to delay the byelection for Borden-Kinkora by two days was not taken lightly.

He made calls to highway maintenance officials and plow dispatchers, and took into account the closing of the Confederation Bridge and calls by the RCMP for cars to stay off the roads.

"The reality is we're seeing more and more of these weather events right across the country that are coming up," Garrity said.

Tim Garrity, the chief electoral officer for Elections P.E.I., recently had to delay a byelection by two days because of an extreme snow storm. That power does not exist in New Brunswick. (Isabella Zavarise/CBC)

"Any chief electoral officer in the country, I feel, should have the authority to be able to move the election," he said.

Election delays are not always from weather. When Premier Blaine Higgs called an election in late 2020, he created confusion by telling reporters it could be delayed if the pandemic worsened, even though the province had no rules to allow this.

In Newfoundland and Labrador, the chief electoral officer made changes to an election in 2021 by extending deadlines and cancelling in-person voting when staff quit in droves as COVID got worse.

That province is now being sued by losing candidates, who say Elections N.L. didn't have the authority to delay the vote.

Poffenroth wants 2 other changes

Poffenroth also told the committee that privacy legislation is needed to protect lists of voters that are given out to MLAs and parties, because no regulations currently exist.

These lists include names and addresses of voters.

"Given the ease in which data can be manipulated in today's day and age, it's not like 60 years ago, when people got a paper list," she said.

She said her office is looking into this practice and will release a report with recommendations.

A three-day snowstorm in early February left many roads on P.E.I. impassable, which led to a byelection for Borden-Kinkora being delayed by two days. (Nicola MacLeod/CBC)

Additionally, she cannot investigate campaign finance or election violations, something other jurisdictions, including Alberta can do, she said. Currently, Elections N.B. has no authority to ask campaigns for more documentation to prove finance violations have been committed.

"We can ask, and they can say no," she said.

If her office gets complaints, outside of a full inquiry, Poffenroth can only direct them to local police, she said.

"The files we have are a good basis for [police] to begin their investigation, but the actual expertise on this legislation is within this office," Poffenroth said. Her office often has to spend considerable time to "educate" police on specific election rules, she said.

Changes are 'sensible and urgent,' opposition says

Poffenroth's remarks were in response to questions from Green Party Leader David Coon, who asked for an update on the progress of electoral reform.

Coon told the committee her suggestions were "eminently sensible, and in some cases, fairly urgent."

Poffenrorth's answers about election reform progress were brought up after questions by Green Leader David Coon, who called her proposals sensible. (Sam Farley/CBC)

In an interview, Coon said the province has legislation governing elections, yet Poffenroth "has no powers of investigation" to actually enforce them.

He cited an example from the last provincial election, when his party reported what he said were violations at polling stations in Sackville.

When his party was told by Elections N.B. that it had no investigative powers, the Sackville concern was "just left unaddressed."

Liberal committee member Keith Chiasson also agreed that Poffenroth's suggestions should be implemented, including her call for the power to delay an election if necessary.

Liberal MLA and committee member Keith Chiasson said he supports Poffenroth's proposals, especially to delay elections under emergencies because severe weather is becoming more common. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

"If she's flagged those issues within the legislation, and she thinks that government needs to kind of tweak the law that's in place now, then I think, all power to her," Chiasson said in an interview.

"I think with the weather being so unpredictable these days, I think it's something we're going to see more and more," he said.