Health services, election amendments become provincial law

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This article was published 17/03/2022 (1468 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Two bills became law Wednesday, allowing electronic meetings for condos, co-ops, credit unions and corporations, and the use of vote counting machines in elections.

Bill 10 (Act Respecting Amendments to Health Services Insurance Act, Pharmaceutical Act and Various Corporate Statutes) adds an exemptions to the current legislation requiring laboratories and medical specimen collection centres must be accredited and approved.

It exempts a place where COVID-19 point-of-care tests are administered from the accreditation and approval requirements as long as specimens are collected only for the purpose of administering the tests.

It includes amendments to the Pharmaceutical Act permit a pharmacist to administer and interpret a COVID-19 point-of-care test. Bill 10 also amends corporate statutes — the Condominium Act, Co-operatives Act, Corporations Act and Credit Unions and Caisses Populaires Act — to allow electronic meetings and electronic voting at such meetings unless specifically prohibited by bylaw.

Bill 11 (Elections Amendment Act) enables the use of vote counting machines.

The machines are not “voting machines” people use to register their votes. Paper ballots will continue to be used, and all other forms of voting, including via internet, remain prohibited, the bill’s explanatory note says. Depending on connectivity and related issues, manual counting of ballots will continue in some rural and remote regions as determined by the Chief Electoral Officer.

The secrecy of the vote is protected under the amendments, which forbid vote counting machines from being used in a way that allows a voter’s choice to become known to an election official or a scrutineer.

Several safeguards ensure the integrity of the vote, it says.

Vote counting machines cannot be connected to an electronic network during voting except to upload results in a secure manner to Elections Manitoba or the returning officer. The machines must be successfully tested before being used, and precautions taken at all times to ensure their security.

Results counted by machine may not be generated until election day.