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   From: Panca@nyet.ca   
      
   Ottawa Citizen - December 9, 2014   
      
   Elections Canada planning to be ready for federal vote any time after March 1,   
   2015   
      
      
   By law, Canada’s next federal election will take place Oct. 19, 2015. But   
   taking no chances, Elections Canada will be election-ready on March 1.   
      
   The “readiness date” appeared in an Elections Canada tender last week for   
   multimedia kits — including USB keys preloaded with information about   
   political   
   financing — for distribution to federal political parties.   
      
   But that doesn’t mean the agency necessarily expects an election to occur   
   before next Oct. 19, as called for in Canada’s fixed date election law,   
   spokeswoman Diane Benson said.   
      
   “That’s a regular part of planning,” Benson said. “You need to have   
   readiness   
   dates, because our mandate is to be ready.”   
      
   Though the law specifies a fixed date for the next election, it also states   
   that nothing precludes the governor general from dissolving Parliament earlier   
   than that, Benson noted.  “You have to be ready.”   
      
   According to the tender document, Elections Canada wants to enter into a   
   contract for 4,000 multimedia kits in January or February in order to meet the   
   March 1 readiness date.  It notes that time frames are “subject to change”   
   and   
   says Elections Canada “will endeavour” to provide one week’s notice of   
   any change.   
      
   The multimedia kit tender is one of several election-related contracts posted   
   recently by Elections Canada.   
      
   One invited bids for a national survey of youth aged 18 to 34 as a followup to   
   Elections Canada’s first-ever national youth survey after the 2011 election.   
   Going forward, Benson said, the survey will be part of the agency’s regular   
   post-electoral review.   
      
   The survey is “essential” to Election Canada’s efforts to understand   
   “how the   
   barriers to voting are evolving and to ensure the agency is equipped with   
   evidence-based research to inform its outreach activities,” Benson said.   
      
   Other recent tenders invited bids for the printing, storage and delivery of   
   26,000,000 voter information cards, and the printing and shipping of candidate   
   lists in braille.   
      
   In October, the agency posted three other postelection tenders: a public   
   opinion survey of electors, a survey of candidates in the 2015 election, and a   
   survey of election staff.   
   _____________________________________________   
      
   Mike Duffy Senate expenses trial set for 41 days starting in April   
   Parliament Hill buzzing over how 8-week spring trial could affect 2015 election   
      
   http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/mike-duffy-senate-expenses-trial   
   set-for-41-days-starting-in-april-1.2774968   
      
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