E-8.1 - Act respecting public elementary and secondary education

Section 495 Disposition versions

2999-12-31

495. The chief electoral officer is responsible for the preparation of the list of electors, the drawing of the boundaries of the electoral wards and the holding of a poll in the territories contemplated by the notice of the Minister in accordance with sections 487 and 494 and the territories contemplated in section 491.1. The list of electors shall also be used for the poll held for the election of June 1986.

The chief electoral officer shall appoint the number of returning officers he considers necessary to assist him in carrying out his responsabilities under this section.

For those purposes, the chief electoral officer may use any appropriate means he deems necessary. He shall also have all the necessary powers to carry out his duties under this section. He shall have in particular, in respect of the preparation of the list of electors and of the holding of the poll, powers similar to his powers under the Election Act (chapter E-3.2). The same applies for the election officers.

Without limiting the generality of the third paragraph, the provisions of this Act relating to the qualifications required to be a candidate and the drawing of the boundaries of the electoral wards apply. However, the Chief Electoral Officer may set aside the rule in respect of the boundaries of the electoral wards set out in the second paragraph of section 117 for exceptional considerations of a demographic or geographic nature such as the population density, the exceptional dimensions of a territory, the number of municipalities in a territory and the isolation of a municipality. Every Canadian citizen of full age who, on polling day, has been domiciled in Québec for twelve months, has been domiciled in the territory of the school board and who is not disqualified to vote in accordance with the Election Act (chapter E-3.2) shall be an elector in the election of commissioners. The elector, to be entitled to vote, shall be entered on the list of electors of the ward in which he is domiciled on the first day fixed for the revision of the list of electors.

For purposes of preparation of the list of electors, the enumerators shall ask every elector for which school board he elects to vote. They shall also ask every elector in the territory of confessional school boards if he is Catholic, Protestant or of another religious confession.

For the election of December 1985, the list of electors of the school board shall be prepared from the data obtained at the time of the annual enumeration made under the Election Act or, as the case may be, of the enumeration made during the election period in accordance with section 64 of the said Act, to which shall be added the required additional information for the administration of the election.

The chief electoral officer shall establish all the rules he considers necessary for the preparation of the list of electors and the holding of the poll, as well as for the contestation of the election. These rules come into force on the date of their adoption and shall be published in the Gazette officielle du Québec.

Every person who contravenes a provision of the rules established by the Chief Electoral Officer is guilty of an offence and liable, in addition to costs, to a fine of not more than $2 000.

Proceedings for contravention of the rules established by the Chief Electoral Officer are instituted in accordance with the Summary Convictions Act (chapter P-15) by the Chief Electoral Officer or any person generally or specially authorized by him for that purpose.

No extraordinary recourse or provisional remedy provided for in the Code of Civil Procedure (chapter C-25) lies against the chief electoral officer, any member of his personnel or any election officer, when exercising his functions under this Act. A judge of the Court of Appeal may, on motion, summarily annul any writ, order or injunction issued or granted contrary to this paragraph.

The sums required for the administration of this section are taken out of the consolidated revenue fund; however, the Government may determine that all or part of the expenditures required for the administration of this section shall be borne by the existing school boards.

1984, c. 39, s. 495; 1985, c. 8, s. 43.