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The initial version of the bill removed parts of Section 18 of the Canada Elections Act that gave the chief electoral officer the authority to use “any media or other means” to help provide the public with information on the “democratic right to vote.”

It also axed a part that gave the chief electoral officer the power to “implement public education and information programs to make the electoral process better known to the public, particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.”

The Conservative government argued at the time that Elections Canada’s advertising wasn’t improving voter participation.

The agency, however, maintains that it has never had a get-out-the-vote role that encourages people to go to the polls. Rather, Elections Canada says its job has been and continues to be informing Canadians about their democratic right to vote, including when, where and how to cast ballots.

Some of the controversial provisions that would have restricted the chief electoral officer from communicating with Canadians were eventually dropped or amended. But other changes were still made to the Elections Act that affect the agency.

The updated legislation includes a section on public education and information programs, but now says those programs are to “make the electoral process better known to students at the primary and secondary levels,” whereas the previous version referred to the public in general — “particularly to those persons and groups most likely to experience difficulties in exercising their democratic rights.”