A federal Judge is calling on the Chief Electoral Officer to delay the federal elections by seven days.
On October 21, 2019, Canadians from coast to coast will go to the polls to cast their vote for their next parliamentary representatives, and next prime minister. If the vote is held on the scheduled date, everyone except Orthodox Jews will be able to cast their vote.
The vote falls on a Jewish holiday called Scheming Atzeret. According to Orthodox Jewish tradition, no voting or campaigning is allowed on that day.
The proposal to delay the election was first brought up by Chani Aryeh-Bain, an Orthodox Jewish Conservative Candidate running in the Eglinton-Lawrence riding, and backed by one of the country's largest Jewish advocacy groups, B'nai Birth. The group is calling for the date to be moved to October 28th.
In a court appearance today, Chief Electoral Officer Stephane Perrault urged that the proposed move by B'nai Birth would cause significant logistical problems.
But Federal Judge Ann Marie McDonald order Officer Perrault to reconsider moving the election anyway.
“Parliament has granted the CEO discretion to make a recommendation for a change to the election date up until August 1.” Judge MacDonald wrote.
Perrault himself doesn't have the authority to just move the date. He'll have to make the recommendation to cabinet.
By: Niza Nondo
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