Canadians will soon find out if the date of October’s federal election is about to change, according to petitioners in a Charter rights lawsuit arguing for a shift on religious grounds.

On the heels of Tuesday’s Federal Court hearing in Toronto, Madam Justice Ann Marie McDonald now faces reconciling the fixed date of Oct. 21 with a campaign to push back the election a full week to enable the full participation of tens of thousands of Orthodox Jews, who will be observing the biblically mandated high holiday of Shemini Atzeret.

All litigants on Tuesday argued for a quick decision, mindful that the election schedule is approaching legal and logistical hurdles, with any change next to impossible after the end of July.

The case centres upon Chani Aryeh-Bain, the Conservative nominee in the riding of Eglinton-Lawrence, and York Centre constituent Ira Walfish, who together filed suit in Federal Court in June arguing that Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault acted unreasonably in failing to schedule the election in a way that avoids “conflict with a day of cultural or religious significance.”

“Everyone at court recognized there is a hard deadline of Aug. 1 and so the expectation now is that we will get a decision very soon,” said Michael Mostyn, chief executive officer of B’nai Brith Canada, which was granted intervener status in the legal battle. “It’s all in the judge’s hands at this point.

“The thrust of our argument in court today was that the Jewish community should have the opportunity not just to vote but to participate fully in the election process. We need to avoid the potential for a situation in Canada where some groups feel they have different rights than others.”

Though the rights of Conservative candidate Ayreh-Bain are at issue, the case has acquired a bipartisan flavour with rival politicians joining the argument. On Tuesday, York Centre Liberal MP Michael Levitt took to social media renewing his call for a new election date, which he first raised with Perreault in April.

It is far from certain that McDonald, should she decide in favour of the suit, would set a new date unilaterally. Other options include a ruling that would in some way direct Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer to revisit the question, leaving the authority to determine the precise date in the hands of Elections Canada.

Other observers note that, regardless of the outcome, Elections Canada is showing willingness to address the issue of potential religious conflict more deeply in future elections.

By law, since 2007, Canada’s fixed-date elections have fallen every four years on the third Monday of October — in this instance, the date of Oct. 21 coincides with the lesser-known high holiday of Shemini Atzeret. But the campaign will also sprawl across the Jewish New Year of Rosh Hashana (Sept. 30-Oct. 1), Yom Kippur (Oct. 8-9) and Sukkot (Oct. 13-20).

“While under ideal circumstances, the election date would be pushed forward to the following week, we recognize that changing the date at this juncture would entail logistical challenges and a huge financial expense,” Shimon Koffler Fogel, president and CEO of the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs, said in a statement to the Star.

“CIJA will be working with Elections Canada to mitigate, to the greatest degree possible, any obstacles to exercising the right to vote. Most religious Jews will be inconvenienced but not prevented from participating in the democratic process.

“Moving forward, CIJA’s focus is on securing a change of the fixed date for all future elections — and Elections Canada is committed to assisting in that effort,” said Fogel.