OTTAWA — Canada’s Chief Electoral Officer Stéphane Perrault hopes the government will increase minimum campaign periods because so many people are voting early that Elections Canada is struggling to keep up.

In a retrospective of the spring federal election, Perrault said Monday that a record 44 per cent of voters cast their ballots before voting day on April 28, 2025. In other words, gone are the days when most voters waited until election day to cast their ballot.

Though he celebrated the fact the election saw the highest participation rate in 30 years (68 per cent), Perrault said that the constant increase in advance voting and special ballots combined with a series of recent snap elections have stretched his organization very thin.

The strain on Elections Canada was already visibl

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