Bill C-19 (Historical)

An Act to amend the Canada Elections Act (COVID-19 response)

This enactment adds a new Part to the Canada Elections Act that provides for temporary rules to ensure the safe administration of an election in the context of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The new Part, among other things,
(a) extends the Chief Electoral Officer’s power to adapt the provisions of that Act to ensure the health or safety of electors or election officers;
(b) authorizes a returning officer to constitute polling divisions that consist of a single institution where seniors or persons with a disability reside, or a part of such an institution, and to set the days and hours that a polling station established there will be open;
(c) provides for a polling period of three consecutive days consisting of a Saturday, Sunday and Monday;
(d) provides for the hours of voting during the polling period;
(e) provides for the opening and closing measures at polling stations;
(f) sets the days for voting at advance polling stations;
(g) authorizes the Chief Electoral Officer to modify the day on which certain things are authorized or required to be done before the polling period by moving that day backward or forward by up to two days or the starting date or ending date of a period in which certain things are authorized or required to be done by up to two days;
(h) provides that an elector may submit an application for registration and special ballot under Division 4 of Part 11 in writing or in electronic form;
(i) provides that an elector whose application for registration and special ballot was accepted by the returning officer in their electoral district may deposit the outer envelope containing their special ballot in a secure reception box or ballot box for the deposit of outer envelopes; and
(j) prohibits installing a secure reception box for the deposit of outer envelopes unless by or under the authority of the Chief Electoral Officer or a returning officer and prohibits destroying, taking, opening or otherwise interfering with a secure reception box installed by a returning officer.
The enactment also provides for the repeal of the new Part six months after the publication of a notice confirming that the temporary rules in that Part are no longer required to ensure the safe administration of an election in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

You might not be surprised that, since it's similar to one earlier on, I find this to be outside of the scope and inadmissible.

Bill C-19 amends the Canada Elections Act. This amendment seeks to add that the Chief Electoral Officer must obtain agreement of the registered political parties represented in the House of Commons for any modification he wishes to make under proposed subsection 582(1). Since the Chief Electoral Officer is independent from political parties, the amendment is a new concept that goes beyond the scope of the bill.

That is my ruling.

Are we okay with moving forward? Thank you. I appreciate that.

We're now on CPC-12.

[Alain Therrien, Bloc, La Prairie, QC]

Madam Chair, that's just what I was about to say.

If we don't want elections during the pandemic, I don't know why we're working on Bill C‑19.

[Michel Roussel]

Sure.

This amendment, accepting electronic signatures, is something that Elections Canada would have to be prepared to do within the deadline set within Bill C‑19.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

First of all, I'd like to say that New Democrats do think that the option of phone voting in particular should be explored in the future. We heard very clearly from the disability community that they believe this would help enfranchise members of the disability community.

We also recognize that we're apparently on a short timeline. This is about what we can do in the context of the pandemic. We've heard from the CEO that he doesn't think it's feasible to be able to implement these things on the timeline that I think everybody is working under, whether that's this summer or sometime later in the future. I know that the Prime Minister said we're not going to have an election this summer, but even if it's in the fall or the subsequent spring, that's a pretty tight timeline.

If it gives my Conservative colleagues and others some comfort to add this to the bill, I don't....

I think there is a little bit of a philosophical difference here with my Liberal colleague. I don't think there's anything wrong with the legislature being prescriptive. I don't think our job is to simply give the maximum power to an arm's length organization and then trust them to make good decisions. I think it is appropriate for us to clearly signal what we think is the direction we would like to see those authorities go in and to provide some more substantial direction. In fact, in some cases, they would also appreciate that. For example, the Chief Electoral Officer believes that it's in his purview to do many of the things that are in C-19 under his current powers of adaptation, but he said that he would feel more comfortable having clearer direction from the legislature. That's the enterprise we're engaged in right now.

If it gives some comfort to my colleagues to know that these things would not be implemented on a short timeline in a pandemic and have that in the legislation, I'm happy to support it for that reason, even though I think that in the longer term these are things worth exploring.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Bill C-19 amends the Elections Act to allow the Chief Electoral Officer to extend time for doing any act to ensure the health and safety of electors or election officers pursuant to proposed subsection 17(1) of the bill.

This amendment proposes to disallow the Chief Electoral Officer from doing so in relation to voting hours or voting days at an advance polling station, or in relation to the voting hours during the polling period. As the House of Commons Procedure and Practice, third edition, states on page 770, “An amendment to a bill that was referred to a committee after second reading is out of order if it is beyond the scope and principle of the bill.” This would be deemed to be beyond the principle of the bill.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

I appreciate that, Madam Chair, but both NDP-1 and NDP-3 were designed to give indigenous people across Canada access to voting in their own language. NDP-2 and NDP-4 were designed to pilot that initiative within Nunavut. The amendments work together as a pair.

Given that the committee has already expressed support for your decision to rule them out of order, I don't think it would behoove the committee to spend time to relitigate issues that have already been decided by the committee, given the limited amount of time we have and the importance of getting C-19 through committee today.

If an overwhelming number of members on the committee have changed their minds since our last vote and they would like to disclose that to the committee, I would be very happy to hear that. In that case, I'd also be happy to move those amendments. However, given that I doubt that is the case, I appreciate that we now need to move on to the other important issues that the committee will be considering today.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Sure.

I just wanted to add for further clarification that the form of the actual ballot has not been mentioned in C-19 and is not touched by the bill. That's another hopefully clearer explanation as to why it's outside of the scope. The bill does not affect the ballot.

We'll go to the vote.

(Ruling of the chair sustained: yeas 9; nays 2)

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Ms. Qaqqaq.

Your words have had an impact on me, and I'm sure they have on others, as well. You're right in many ways. Hopefully, we can figure out a way to make this happen and make action happen.

Once again, like the previous ruling, this is found to be outside the scope of Bill C-19 and the principle of the bill.

Go ahead, Mr. Blaikie.

[Daniel Blaikie, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

What I would like to add to Ms. Qaqqaq's remarks, just from my own experience here on the committee of having participated in the study of pandemic elections and then in the process up to now on Bill C-19, is that I think it's very clear, if you look at the study that the committee conducted and at some of the remarks that the government has made at this committee in respect of C-19, that the purpose of the bill and the things that we should take into account for consideration when we're talking about conducting an election during the pandemic certainly include public safety, but they also extend beyond that to ensuring that in a time when it's very difficult for people to vote—and we heard testimony from indigenous peoples at this committee during our study that there were additional barriers to voting because of the pandemic—we facilitate voting.

This is one thing that the committee might do and that Parliament might do through this bill, even as new barriers are being presented because of the pandemic, to eliminate some long-standing barriers at least on a trial basis.

I would argue certainly that it is within the scope of the bill, because I think the bill ought to be interpreted in accordance with that dual purpose of both protecting public health and safety, and facilitating voting and ensuring that people aren't disenfranchised at a time when it's arguably going to be more difficult than ever to feel comfortable casting a ballot. We have seen in the example of Newfoundland and Labrador, for instance, the effect that can have on an election.

This is the kind of thing the committee could do in the spirit of facilitating voting and avoiding the kind of aversion to voting that we saw in Newfoundland and Labrador and all the challenges that lower turnouts present to the outcomes of a democratic election.

With that in mind, Madam Chair, I would respectfully challenge your ruling and ask for a recorded vote by the committee on whether or not to sustain your ruling.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Ms. Qaqqaq.

I agree. It should have already been done. I think there are ways to maybe do this in the future as well, but I will read my ruling.

I'm following the procedure laid out in the House of Commons Procedure and Practice for amendments to legislation.

Bill C-19 amends the Canada Elections Act. The amendment seeks to add that all ballots must be printed in the provided indigenous languages. Since the bill itself does not address this issue, it is therefore beyond the scope of the bill. The amendment also amends a section of the parent act not amended by the bill. Therefore, it's beyond the scope and principle of the bill.

That's my ruling at this point.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Since this is a very important issue, I was wondering whether Ms. Lawson or anybody else could step in and explain what is being done to facilitate other languages and how Ms. Qaqqaq or any other members who wish to try to make this type of change for the future could do so without it being at this point in Bill C-19, since it is beyond the scope of Bill C-19 at this time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

Thank you, Ms. Qaqqaq.

I think it's very important for you to have explained your amendment.

You made a very powerful and moving speech in the House the other day. I was grateful to have been a witness to that.

On a more procedural issue, this committee has dealt with these issues in the past as well, with the fact that indigenous languages now can be spoken in the House and translation can be provided. I know that perhaps there are still some delays in making the requests and making sure we can have those interpreted on the spot. We can still do better with that, but it's an important step that this committee had taken in the past to make that possible. I do believe that ballots should be available in many indigenous languages.

As for Bill C-19, however, it is a temporary measure in order to make elections safer during the pandemic, and the original bill does not touch upon ballots being changed for this election. Therefore, after having consulted with the legislative clerk, it has been found that this amendment—along with amendment NDP-2—are beyond the scope and principle of this bill and are therefore deemed to be inadmissible as amendments for this bill.

That doesn't mean that.... We do have Elections Canada come and report to us after each election takes place, and I think it would be something that we should be considering as perhaps a change to the bill as is. Maybe Elections Canada officials or the legislative clerk, who is here today, could help explain what they think as to why they think this is beyond the scope of the bill.

[Mumilaaq Qaqqaq, NDP, Nunavut, NU]

Matna. Thank you, all, and thank you for the opportunity. I really appreciate it and the time and space here.

We have thought of great things happening, and of course we know that in this amendment we're looking at indigenous languages and ensuring that we see that on the ballot. Bill C‑19 is about protecting democracy. It's about ensuring that indigenous peoples can be included in the voting process.

I look and think of my riding in particular where about 84% or 85% of the constituency is Inuk and where for the majority of those people, about 60%, their mother tongue is Inuktitut. That's not including whether or not they actually speak the language, that is just encompassing their first language. Nunavut in particular can be viewed as an already very indigenous language-based riding, if you will.

What we're talking about is expanding that and making that more entrenched in our actual policies and the things that we do to ensure that we can see indigenous peoples included in this democracy. Keep in mind that while I have spoken a bit about my riding specifically, there are ridings all across the country that are in the same situation. If we're talking about reconciliation and the need for promoting that, the need for promoting indigenous languages, this is an amazing opportunity of course to be able to do that as well, and it should quite frankly already have been something that's in place. I'm really glad that we're here at least starting the conversation and really have an opportunity to do some really cool stuff and create some change.

We know that the Commissioner of Nunavut has stated that indigenous people's voter turnout reduces when their language is not available on the ballot. We know that Minister LeBlanc acknowledged that a broad view is needed as to what's in the scope of Bill C‑19 and said that the government will not object to something beyond the scope of the legislation if it's designed to further our collective best efforts to come up with the right mix of measures.

Again, this is something that should already be available. We should already be encouraging this. If the federal institution is really invested in reconciliation, here's an action item that we can do to show that to the rest of Canada. We also need to ensure that indigenous peoples like the Inuit can be included in the democratic process.

It was basically on day one of my election where people thought it was my fault as a newly elected member of Nunavut that there was no availability for them to vote in their language. There were so many elders and others who came up to me who said, I wasn't sure if I even voted right, or I decided not to vote. We can't have that happen because people can't have those kinds of clear barriers, and we can be lifting those up.

I really look forward to seeing support for this. Indigenous language is something that is so incredibly important and should be a priority to everybody here on the committee. You have all seen me talking about reconciliation and those talking pieces. Here's an action item. Here is something concrete to do to make change. It's so important that we ensure Inuit and indigenous peoples are included as a part of the democracy.

Let's take it a step further and show them that Canadians also want to learn about indigenous people, want to learn about indigenous languages, want to promote those kinds of things and want to see pride in that. This is Canadian history. This is Canadian people where indigenous peoples are the first of this country. These are the original languages of Canada. Why aren't they on the ballot? Today is an opportunity to see some of that change, to see that availability to be able to actually make change and progress and move forward altogether.

Thank you so much again for the opportunity to be able to speak.

I'll just leave you with this. Imagine if your voters could not vote in English or French. That is very much a situation similar to what many indigenous peoples are facing.

I look forward to your support, and of course this amendment is about ensuring everybody is included in this process, and we want to ensure that happens to the best of our ability.

Thank you, everybody, and I look forward to that support.

Matna.

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

For all those attending virtually, I'll just remind you to select your language of interpretation at the bottom of your screen. Raise your hand in the toolbar below if you would like to speak to something. If you have a point of order, just unmute yourself and state that you have a point of order.

Before we begin, I have a minor administrative matter to take care of. A request for the project budget was circulated to everyone. This is for Bill C-19. Did everyone see the budget for C-19? I was hoping we could quickly approve the budget before we proceed.

Is everyone okay with the budget that has been sent around?

[The Chair, Liberal, Ruby Sahota]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 32 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs for clause-by-clause consideration of Bill C-19.

The public portion of the meeting will be webcast on the House of Commons website. Today's meeting is taking place in hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of January 25, 2021. Therefore, members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

Is the meeting taking place in camera?