Procedure and House Affairs Committee on June 15th, 2006

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

A big part of the problem in changing the paragraph for advance polls is that, remember, it used to be for two polls or more, and now we've changed it to one. So in a particular case where there'd be a village or whatever, they could decide to have an advance poll specifically there.

Secondly, as far as the special vote is concerned, we allow it for people who go south to be in the sun. We should allow it for people who decide to stay north in the cold.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

You're right.

May I just remind committee members that the recommendation is simply that the committee authorize or support a stronger review of this issue. It sounds to me like that's exactly what we need to support. He's not really asking us to change the law or come up with a solution. He's just asking that the committee recommend that this issue be strongly reviewed.

We'll continue discussions for a moment. We'll have Mr. Reid, then Mr. Godin, and then Ms. Picard.

[Scott Reid, Conservative, Lanark—Frontenac—Lennox and Addington, ON]

That's very good. I wonder if Nancy would be all right with it if it could be translated and then handed out to everybody, if it's sufficiently....

I think there are a number of points that would come logically into a number of different sections of the act, and it's sort of hard to discuss them under this section of the act. So if it could be done, maybe it could be given to us so we'd have time to look at it for our Tuesday meeting, and we could probably incorporate a number of points.

The advance poll was one that I.... When I was just getting into full flight about the past meeting, it was about Nunavut, because Nancy had mentioned this very problem to me. Similarly, on the whole issue of nominations and the 100 signatures, that's where that came from. Do you remember that I kept talking about Nunavut? It was because Nancy had mentioned this problem.

I think to actually hear her problems well, we'd have to be able to take it and divide it up, because it sounds like she has about seven or eight points.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Mrs. Redman, are you comfortable handing that in? We are compiling responses from outside the committee. So if you're comfortable handing that to the clerk, we'll keep a copy of it.

May I move on then to Mr. Godin? Then I think we'll go to Madame Picard. And I'm going to call the question, because I think we've already established consensus here.

Monsieur Godin.

[Yvon Godin, NDP, Acadie—Bathurst, NB]

Mr. Chairman, this is important for those people who are hospitalized.

You will remember that I told Mr. Kingsley that we were doing everything we could so as to allow those people outside the country to vote. However, a person who is hospitalized two or three days before an election will be unable to vote. It might be someone who has voted all of his or her life, who wants to go and vote and who lives two steps away from the polling station.

I believe that this is a move in the right direction.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you. I agree.

We'll now have Madame Picard.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I am very sensitive to what other members have said and to what Ms. Redman told us. The idea here is to review all of the special voting rules. This is what we have been asked to do, and the Bloc is in agreement.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

May I call the question? The committee is suggesting, then, that we support this, that there needs to be a review. And we can add some of the comments from the committee this morning for those who ultimately review this. Agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you.

We have dealt with section 1.18, ladies and gentlemen, and 1.19 is likely to be dealt with in Bill C-4. So we are on to what I would consider the even more interesting things.

We are on chapter 2, section 2.1, “Registration Through Income Tax Returns”. I will remind the committee that we did hear from the Privacy Commissioner that in fact if the individual consents to allowing this information to be transferred to Elections Canada, there is no problem with it, indeed. Even asking, as Mr. Kingsley has requested, that the person check off a box to say that he or she is a Canadian citizen is apparently allowed, with consent.

I see all the members reading that section. Shall I read it, or are we ready to discuss it? Are you okay with it, or did you want to comment?

Mr. Preston.

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

I would like to comment, if I could.

We said it yesterday, and we'll say again today, that Mr. Kingsley has always had the ability under the Privacy Act to do this. We found that out from the Privacy Commissioner yesterday. So if he's asking us to let him do his job, then great, let him do it. The income tax returns may be one of the best places to get it.

But we were also told yesterday that we were going to get some information by this morning about the use of census or Statistics Canada data.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Apparently they called and said the issue is much more in-depth than they thought, and they couldn't get it. They're hoping to get it by the end of the meeting. That's the best they could do.

May I just remind members that it's the Canada Revenue Agency that seems to feel that they don't have enough authority to pass this information on. I suspect that we perhaps are privy to information they don't have.

Are there any other comments on this?

Mr. Proulx.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I have a brief comment on your comment. Did the commissioner say when they could supply us with their opinion?

[The Clerk of the Committee]

It will be today, maybe by 1 p.m.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Okay, it was too complicated for 11, but it would be okay for later on today. I'm not being sarcastic; I just want to understand. That's fine.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

That's what I hear. They're looking into it in more detail.

I'm not sure, however, that there was any question about this issue. My understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that the Privacy Commissioner said fairly clearly that if there was consent, it was okay.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

Could we rearrange 2.1 to include the possibility for Elections Canada to go further than strictly using income tax returns and to go to census information through Statistics Canada? Statistics Canada's statistics have to be the best source in the land. Can we rearrange this wording so that we encourage that?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I'm seeing most folks nod.

May I extend it further to ask that a box be put on the income tax forms to indicate whether you are a Canadian citizen?

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I thought we had already agreed to that.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I think we have. It's coming up in chapter 5. .

Everybody agreed?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We will make sure that happens.

We have already dealt with 2.2, 2.4, and 2.5.

On 2.6, “Authority to Determine When to Send Out Voter Information Cards”, I will read this:

The Chief Electoral Officer seeks greater flexibility in determining when to issue Voter Information Cards. Currently, they are to be sent as soon as possible after the issuance of the writ, but not later than the 24th day before election day. The Chief Electoral Officer notes that while this process functions well, greater flexibility is needed to avoid situations where Cards are required to be issued before all the information required on the Card is gathered (polling station, advance polling station, dates and hours of voting).

I'm going to open this one up for comments.

Mr. Preston.

[Joe Preston, Conservative, Elgin—Middlesex—London, ON]

As we stated yesterday, the information on the voter card is nothing but your name, address, and what poll you go to. We felt that the name and address may be information that's causing it to be used as an identification card. Why are we not using bulk mail saying that you vote at such-and-such a polling place? It doesn't need to be addressed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Monsieur Proulx.

[Marcel Proulx, Liberal, Hull—Aylmer, QC]

I think it sounds great, but I have a suspicion that there are problems as far as Canada Post goes. All of a postal code area would not necessarily vote at the same polling station.

I think our options are either to address them directly or eliminate them. I don't think we can discuss eliminating these cards because it's the only information they get from Elections Canada. I think what the CEO is trying to do is to cover his rear end, in case they have not worked quickly enough to issue the cards with the proper information. Then when we complain, they can say, well, the law allows a delay on this.

I appreciate that it's a major problem. The period of time for the revision of the list brings a lot of changes, and before they can cope with these changes, that date arrives. However, if we are successful in forcing Elections Canada to have a better permanent list, then there won't be as many changes in the revision period and it would be easier for them to reach their goals.