Evidence of meeting #12 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was list.
11:50 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Mr. Chairman, I don't think disabled people should have to bear this burden.
11:50 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Currently, they are the ones who bear it because there is a 48-hour delay. The change that I am proposing would eliminate that 48-hour delay. Furthermore, let us recall...
11:50 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
It's my turn.
11:50 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
...I would tell you with all due respect that the responsibility for ensuring that stations are accessible to disabled people lies with the returning officers.
11:50 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
I agree. That is why I think that this legislative requirement is so important. Furthermore, they have to obtain my approval before allowing the establishment of a polling station which is not accessible. If they can't find an accessible station, then with the greatest of reservations and on condition that they show me they have done their best to find an accessible station, I give them permission.
Personally, I think that the returning officers, the more motivated ones at least — and that will be the majority if Bill C-2 is passed — would agree on 99.8 per cent and more of polling stations being accessible. That improvement would become a reality and we would no longer need this type of thing.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Yet, even if a disabled person does not have access to a polling station and obtains a certificate, he or she will still have to get to another polling station on their own. I think that the burden is on the other side, but we won't agree on that, Mr. Kingsley.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Yes, we will agree. In response to a question from Mr. Godin, I stated that I was willing to consider the possibility of allowing a box outside the polling station so that people wouldn't have to travel. So there is already a basis for agreement.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
The fact remains that it will still be more difficult in winter.
Concerning the information card you send to voters through the mail, is it sent first-class mail or bulk mail?
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
The first-class rate is used. That is what Canadian taxpayers pay in Canadian post offices.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
In the vast majority of cases...
11:55 a.m.
Conservative
Joe Preston Conservative Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON
Thank you very much.
We'll get into some of the lists and ask more of these questions. But the two issues the committee has been spending a great deal of time looking at are the use of ID at the polls and making the list more accurate. They seem to almost go hand-in-hand, because they allow us maybe a level of fraud that we wouldn't like.
Let's go back to the use of photo ID as an identifier at the polls. Right now, I can't get on an airplane without showing photo ID. Many of the youth in my riding can't even attend a bar without showing photo ID. If I happen to visit another country, I certainly can't return to Canada without showing photo ID. Yet I can vote in an election in this country without having to show it.
Why would we not think that photo ID would be a requirement of a voter in this country?
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
I think the question is valid. We've looked at the Quebec experience, which is the only jurisdiction in Canada.... By the way, I don't mind looking at municipal elections, either.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
Wherever we can learn, we're willing to learn.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
We're looking to Quebec now. We have their report on how they required ID at the polls, and we'd be willing to discuss this with the committee.
As a matter of fact, I have prepared a two-page document, which I would ask to be circulated, entitled, “Reforms and Initiatives Relating to Voter Registration”. The very last step we put in there is required proof of ID at the polls. And the first page deals with how to improve the quality of the list. This is based on the hearings we've been having with party representatives. This is why—
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
11:55 a.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Do you have the document Mr. Kingsley is referring to?
Do we all have it?
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
The clerk...
