This Act amends earlier election-related laws, gives the Act and one Part short titles, sets transitional rules for the 1981 census process, and says the Act comes into force on a day fixed by proclamation.
An Act to amend the Constitution Act, 1867 and the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and to provide for certain matters in relation to the 1981 decennial census Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada, enacts as follows: Short title This Act may be cited as the Representation Act, 1985. [Amendment] Short title and citation This Part may be cited as the Constitution Act, 1985 (Representation) and a reference to the Constitution Acts 1867 to 1982 shall be deemed to include a reference to the Constitution Act, 1985 (Representation). Transitional Notwithstanding anything that was done under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act prior to the coming into force of this Act in respect of the decennial census of Canada taken in the year 1981, on the coming into force of this Act, the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, as amended by Part III of this Act, shall be applied as if subsection 51(1) of the Constitution Act, 1867, as amended by Part I of this Act, had been in force immediately following that census and, except in respect of the Northwest Territories, electoral boundaries commissions shall be established and carry out their duties under the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act in all respects as though nothing had been done under that Act and no time had elapsed following that census. [Note: Act in force March 6, 1986, see SI/86-49.] Presumption Notwithstanding subsection (1), the certified return of the Chief Statistician of Canada referred to in section 11 of the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act and sent pursuant to that Act to the persons referred to in that section following the decennial census of Canada taken in 1981 shall, for the purposes of applying that Act in accordance with subsection (1) of this section, be deemed to have been sent to those persons and to have been received by them on the day on which this Act comes into force. [Amendments] Sections 19 and 20 of the Electoral Boundaries Readjustment Act, as amended by this Act, apply in respect of the electoral boundary readjustment for the Northwest Territories in respect of the decennial census of Canada taken in 1981 notwithstanding anything done under those sections in respect of that census before the coming into force of this Act and, for the purposes of those sections, the copy of the report of the electoral boundaries commission for the Northwest Territories in respect of that census that was transmitted to and received by the Speaker of the House of Commons under subsection 19(1) of that Act, as it read immediately before the coming into force of this Act, shall forthwith after the coming into force of this Act be referred by the Speaker to the committee referred to in subsection 19(1) of that Act, as amended by this Act. Commencement This Act shall come into force on a day to be fixed by proclamation.