Canada Elections Act

Marginal note:Transmission of election survey results

• 326 (1) The first person who transmits the results of an election survey — other than a survey that is described in section 327 — to the public during an election period and any person who transmits them to the public within 24 hours after they are first transmitted to the public must provide the following together with the results:

  • (a) the name of the sponsor of the survey;

  • (b) the name of the person or organization that conducted the survey;

  • (c) the date on which or the period during which the survey was conducted;

  • (d) the population from which the sample of respondents was drawn;

  • (e) the number of people who were contacted to participate in the survey;

  • (f) if applicable, the margin of error in respect of the data obtained; and

  • (g) the address of the Internet site on which a report referred to in subsection (3) is published.

• Marginal note:Additional information — published surveys

  (2) In addition to the information referred to in subsection (1), in the case of a transmission to the public by means other than broadcasting, the wording of the survey questions in respect of which data is obtained must be provided.

• Marginal note:Notice of transmission of survey results

  (2.1) The first person who transmits to the public the results of an election survey — other than a survey that is described in section 327 — shall, if that person is not the sponsor of the survey, ensure that the sponsor of the survey has been notified, before the transmission, of the date on which the results are to be transmitted.

• Marginal note:Report on survey results

  (3) A sponsor of an election survey — other than a survey that is described in section 327 — shall, during an election period, ensure that a report on the results of the survey is published and remains for the remainder of that period on an Internet site that is available to the public. The sponsor shall do so before transmitting the results of the survey, if they are the first person to transmit them or, if they are not, as soon as feasible after being notified of the date of transmission under subsection (2.1), and the report shall include the following, as applicable:

  • (a) the name and address of the sponsor of the survey;

  • (b) the name and address of the person or organization that conducted the survey;

  • (c) the date on which or the period during which the survey was conducted;

  • (d) information about the method used to collect the data from which the survey results are derived, including

    • (i) the sampling method,

    • (ii) the population from which the sample was drawn,

    • (iii) the size of the initial sample,

    • (iv) the number of individuals who were asked to participate in the survey and the numbers and respective percentages of them who participated in the survey, refused to participate in the survey, and were ineligible to participate in the survey,

    • (v) the dates and time of day of the interviews,

    • (vi) the method used to recalculate data to take into account in the survey the results of participants who expressed no opinion, were undecided or failed to respond to any or all of the survey questions, and

    • (vii) any weighting factors or normalization procedures used in deriving the results of the survey; and

  • (e) the wording of the survey questions and, if applicable, the margins of error in respect of the data obtained.

• (4) [Repealed, 2018, c. 31, s. 210]