Excerpted below is the portion of the Elections Act 1991, SNL 1992, c E-3.1 which essentially makes relevant portions of that Act applicable to public consultation of electors by way of plebiscite:
217. (1) Where it appears to the Lieutenant-Governor in Council that an expression of opinion of the electors is desirable on a matter of public concern, the Lieutenant-Governor in Council may direct that a plebiscite or referendum be held to obtain the expression of opinion.
(2) The provisions of this Part relating to the holding of elections and the provisions of Part III respecting election finances apply, with the necessary changes, to a plebiscite or referendum held under subsection (1) except to the extent that the Lieutenant-Governor in Council by order otherwise directs.
Mind you, the Act was likely drafted in contemplation of a plebiscite involving the entire voting population of the province, although it doesn’t specifically state that it couldn’t apply to a subset of electors. But assuming that the Act doesn’t apply in this instance, and just to satiate my own curiosity with various forms of Canadian electoral law, can any of the enterprising journalists covering this story all week find a link to the rules that applied to the recent referendum to ratify the New Dawn agreement? Were there any?
