Working on an analysis of these voters by riding, province and country of residence. Unfortunately, but also understandably, we don’t have party breakdowns of expat votes given confidentiality concerns. Committee report not released yet. Stay tuned:
A House committee study on challenges related to special ballot voting—particularly the experiences of expat voters—is coming to a close, and Liberal MPArielle Kayabaga says she has her sights on what more the foreign affairs department can do to help Canadians abroad cast their votes after hearing that some are paying out of pocket to ensure their ballots are counted.
“One of things that we’re looking to see is how Global Affairs Canada can partner with Canadians that live abroad to stay engaged … especially when there’s an election, where people can get up-to-date information through the already existing infrastructures that we have as services for Canadians abroad,” Kayabaga (London West, Ont.) told The Hill Times.
“The goal here is to really figure out ways to make it easy for Canadians to participate electorally and do their civic duty,” whether at home or abroad, Kayabaga said. “We have put forward helpful recommendations that will increase access and improve the processes in which Canadians vote, especially those who are voting with a special ballot.”
The Procedure and House Affairs Committee (PROC) launched its study on special ballot voting on Nov. 6, 2025, and heard from 13 witnesses over the course of four meetings.
Last spring’s election saw the highest number of Canadians yet cast their votes by special ballot, use of which has more than doubled over the last decade. But it also saw some challenges, with multiple instances of domestically cast special ballots mistakenly left out of official vote counts, leading Elections Canada to launch an internal review. The agency published its resulting report, outlining three phases of changes it’s pursuing, on Dec. 15, 2025.
…Timothy Veale, director of Grits Abroad, and Daniel Scuka, a Canadian currently living in Germany, were the first to testify before PROC, and spoke to the barriers facing expat voters. Veale said he sees “three main barriers” overall: technical, as voting is done by snail mail, which is made more challenging during short, snap campaigns; structural, as international voters “have no direct representation in Parliament,” leaving many, “in effect, disenfranchised,” whereas some countries, like France, have “dedicated overseas MPs”; and political, in terms of a lack of will to effect change. He noted other diasporas, including French expats, “outvoteus by a wide margin.”
That disconnect is something Scuka, who works for the European Space Agency, also touched on, saying “few, if any, candidates commit time or resources” to engage international voters. Scuka supported Veale’s argument for the creation of dedicated MPs to represent overseas voters, and also noted the disconnect created by how votes are counted, noting his last address in Canadawas in Ottawa, a place he only lived for two years, and to which he feels little connection.
Multiple witnesses highlighted the onus put on international voters to ensure their votes are returned on time in the current mail-in system. Scuka said it “took several weeks” after the 2025 campaign began for his ballot to arrive, and he’s previously paid the equivalent of $60 to ensure it made it back in time. Both Veale and Scuka said they’re unsure whether their ballots were ultimately even counted last year.
Another witness, Lucia Kovacikova, a Canadian expert on expat voting currently teach ing in Wisconsin, said she, too, received her ballot “quite late inthe process” last election, and paid $120 to use a private carrier to ensure it got counted.
Kayabaga said reports of expats incurring fees in trying to vote are an example of something she thinks the committee can “look at and figure out ways to improve.”
Scuka said Elections Canada should automatically identify international voters as part of the list of electors it shares with candidates, and urged the committee to consider enabling “Elections Canada to offer any mix of in-person voting or ballot drop-off at consulates or embassies, ballot return via tracked courier envelopes that are potentially prepaid, and the issuance of ballots and returned material via a digital platform,” which would enable voters abroad to “track the status of their ballots.”
Per the Canada Elections Act, expats are allowed to drop-off sealed ballot envelopes at Canadian embassies, high commissions, or consulates, “a Canadian Forces base or to any place that the Chief Electoral Officer may designate.”It does not, however, currently provide for in-person voting.
As part of her remarks, Dalhousie University professor Lori Turnbull said she’d welcome “giving more thought to electronic voting” as an option for all Canadians, including expats—an idea Kovacikova backed. Turnbull also suggested Elections Canada could likely do more to engage voters abroad “well in advance” of an election.
Among the witness list were a number of experts on the voting experiences of other diasporas.
Appearing on Nov. 25, 2025, Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault highlighted that while there was comparative “high-interest” among international voters last election, “more than half” registered after writs were issued. Data shows the later people register, the lower the return rate, he said.
Global Affairs Canada’s Kati Csaba spoke to the support her department offers—support that’s impeded, though, by the fact “many Canadians living abroad aren’t in contact” with GAC. GAC’s current role, she said, “is simply to provide logistical support through Canada’s network of diplomatic missionsabroad,” including by answering “general questions” about voting (“more complex inquiries” are directed to Elections Canada), emailing or faxing applications to register on behalf of expats who need help, posting information on their website, and sharing relevant updates on social media.Voters can also use missions as their mailing address in receiving special ballots, or to drop off completed ballots, she noted.
Conservative MP Michael Cooper (St. Albert–Sturgeon River,Alta.) said following the study he overall feels assured that “the special ballot voting process is working.” “There may be some areas for some minor changes … with respect to seeing that special ballot kits are delivered in a timely manner for Canadians living abroad,” he said, noting as well that he still has some questions over how Elections Canada verifies that ballots it mails overseas are received by eligible voters. “That’s something that I think warrants some further examination.”
On the idea of adding MPs to represent international electors, Cooper was not convinced, and said he’s “not heard any real appetite for” such a change…
Multicultural Meanderings 