BILL NO. 25
1st Session, 57th General Assembly
Nova Scotia
47 Elizabeth II, 1998
Recall Act
Reeves Matheson
Cape Breton East
First Reading: June 29, 1998
Second Reading:
Third Reading:
An Act to Permit the Recall
of a Member of the House of Assembly
Be it enacted by the Governor and Assembly as follows:
1 This Act may be cited as the Recall Act.
2 In this Act, "elector" means a person whose name appears on a list of electors for the most recent election for the electoral district in which the recalled election is proposed.
3 (1) Any elector may, where at least six months have elapsed since the most recent general election or by-election for the electoral district in which the elector is on the list of electors, sponsor a petition requesting that a recall election be held in the electoral district.
(2) Every elector sponsoring a recall petition shall appoint another person to act in the case of the death or incapacity of the elector sponsoring the recall petition, and such person, when so acting, is deemed to be the sponsor of the recall petition.
4 Upon receipt of a recall petition initiated pursuant to Section 3, appearing to contain the signatures of forty per cent or more of the electors in an electoral district, the Chief Electoral Officer shall, within sixty days of receiving the petition, proceed to verify that at least forty per cent of the electors in the electoral district have signed the recall petition and, upon being satisfied of that fact, shall declare the petition to be qualified, notify the Speaker of the House of Assembly, the sponsor of the recall petition and the member of the House of Assembly whose recall is sought, and immediately initiate and conduct a recall election in that electoral district.
5 A recall petition shall contain
(a) the name, address, occupation and political affiliation, if any, of the elector originally sponsoring the petition and those of its drafter;
(b) a statement, not exceeding five hundred words, setting forth the basis upon which the recall of the member of the House of Assembly is sought;
(c) a sworn declaration, not exceeding five hundreds words, outlining the previous contacts and dealings between the elector originally sponsoring the recall petition and the member of the House of Assembly whose recall is sought, or stipulating that there have been no such contacts or dealings;
(d) a statement that signing the petition does not create any liability for statements made in the petition, except for its sponsor and drafters; and
(e) adequate provision for the signatures, clearly printed names, addresses, occupations and telephone numbers for each signature of an elector in the electoral district and the date each signature was affixed to the petition.
6 No person, other than the sponsor and drafters of the petition, is liable for any action in defamation on account of signing, circulating, publishing or broadcasting any of the contents of a recall petition.
7 The full rights and privileges of the member of the House of Assembly whose recall is sought continue notwithstanding that a recall petition has been initiated, until a majority of valid votes are cast in a recall election to recall the member.
8 The Chief Electoral Officer shall notify the member of the House of Assembly whose recall is sought immediately upon receipt of the recall petition and provide the member or the member's agent with a copy of the petition and allow the member or the member's agent to scrutinize the verification procedure.
9 An appeal from a decision of the Chief Electoral Officer that a recall petition is or is not qualified lies to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia and the decision of the Court is final.
10 Where a recall petition has not been found to be qualified, it may not be resubmitted until a number of names have been added to it as specified by the Chief Electoral Officer.
11 (1) Within sixty days following the notification referred to in Section 4, the sponsor of the recall petition and the member of the House of Assembly whose recall is sought, may file with the Chief Electoral Officer information circulars of not more than one thousand words each setting forth the grounds on which the member should or should not be recalled.
(2) Upon receipt of the information circulars referred to in subsection (1), the Chief Electoral Officer shall cause one copy of each circular to be mailed to each elector in the electoral district as soon as is possible and, in any event, not less than fourteen days before the date set for the recall election.
(3) The information circulars shall be printed in identical format, on identical stock and mailed out together.
(4) An information circular may contain words, punctuation and numerical text only.
(5) No person, other than the sponsor, is liable in an action for defamation on account of the circulation, printing, mailing, publication or broadcast of the contents of an information circular.
(6) The Chief Electoral Officer shall ensure that copies of the recall petition, other than the signatories' portion, and the information circulars are made available for inspection at all polling places during voting hours.
(7) The failure of one or more electors or one or more polling stations to receive a copy of a recall petition or of both information circulars shall not invalidate a recall election where there has been substantial impartial compliance with this Section.
12 The form of the recall ballot shall be equally prominent "Yes" and "No" captioned squares on the same line, opposite the following question:
Having read both information circulars regarding this recall election, do you vote to remove "insert name of the member" from the House of Assembly?
13 (1) Where the majority of valid votes cast in the recall election are "Yes" votes the seat of the member is vacant and the former member is not eligible to seek election in the next election in the same electoral district.
(2) Where a majority of the valid votes cast in a recall election are "No" votes or result in a tie, the member is confirmed in office and a recall petition with respect to the same member is not permitted during the remainder of the member's term of office.
14 Where an enumeration of electors in an electoral district is scheduled or under way at the time of, or following receipt of, a recall petition by the Chief Electoral Officer, the enumeration shall be considered for the purpose of qualifying the petition and the newly enumerated electors are eligible to vote in the recall election if they would otherwise be eligible to vote.
15 (1) Subject to this Act, the Chief Electoral Officer shall put in place such procedures as the Chief Electoral Officer deems necessary for the effective, impartial and timely conduct of recall elections pursuant to this Act including, but not limited to, the variation of relevant Sections of the Elections Act.
(2) Except as provided in this Act, the provisions of the Elections Act governing the conduct of by-elections apply to a recall election pursuant to this Act.
16 A recall petition which has not been filed with the Chief Electoral Officer within one year of the first signature being affixed to the petition is deemed to have expired and is void.
17 The Chief Electoral Officer shall cancel a recall election where the member whose recall is sought dies or resigns from the House of Assembly before the date set for the recall election.
This page and its contents published by the Office of the Legislative Counsel, Nova Scotia House of Assembly, and © 1998 Crown in right of Nova Scotia. Updated July 2, 1998. Send comments to legc.office@gov.ns.ca.
