Special voting arrangements are being made for Manitoba residents displaced by the Red River flood, chief electoral officer Jean-Pierre Kingsley announced Sunday.
After touring flooded areas, he decided that voting day in affected ridings would not be delayed past June 2.
However, he said polling stations would be moved outside affected areas or outside the riding if need be to serve voters who have been moved.
Electoral officials will make special efforts to make sure uprooted voters get on the voters’ lists and can vote.
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“With these measures and others that will come about through consultations with candidates as the situation evolves, I am confident that Manitobans will be able to vote on June 2 with all other Canadians,” he announced in Winnipeg May 4.
Reform leader Preston Manning and others had urged Kingsley to use a provision of the Elections Act to postpone for up to three months the vote in ridings affected by the flood.
When Kingsley announced his decision, Manning denounced it and insisted that prime minister Jean ChrŽtien intervene to order the voting delayed.
Critics of the proposal said it would give Manitoba voters an advantage over other voters because they would know the national result and could vote strategically.
Kingsley said his only concern was whether conditions are so bad that a June 2 vote in these ridings would be “impracticable.” He said discussions with candidates, returning officers and voters convinced him it would be difficult but not impossible.
- Those who can reach their polling station can vote on June 2, vote at advance polls May 23, 24 and 26, or by special ballot.
- For those who cannot get to their polling station, there will be a special ballot, available for those who register before 6 p.m. May 27.
By calling 1-800-463-6868, these voters can order a voting kit from Elections Canada with a ballot which must get to a returning officer or Elections Canada offices in Ottawa by June 2.
Meanwhile, ChrŽtien announced May 5 that the United States and Canada are co-operating in a study of the causes and effects of flooding in the Red River Basin and “concrete proposals to diminish the risk of further repetitions of the flooding which has brought so much suffering to people on both sides of the border this year.”
The international joint commission will carry out the study and report by the end of the year.
