Procedure and House Affairs Committee on June 15th, 2006

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I would just like to add to the conversation about the school boards that choose to cancel out on the Chief Electoral Officer at the last minute. I think he's well aware of that potential problem, and he should probably be ensuring that it doesn't happen by doing a little more work. Again, if fixed election dates come along, I don't personally see the problem here.

Mr. Godin, for a final comment.

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

It is important that card be addressed to the person. It has already been demonstrated that the address of the polling station indicated on voter cards is not always the right one or that it is not the same as that on the card of a person living at the same address, for example. In such cases, a call can be placed to Elections Canada, and they will make the necessary correction.

I believe that we should add the fact that the card should be inserted in an envelope so as to put an end to any confusion with regard to people's home addresses. Mr. Kingsley confirmed to us that he was prepared to accept that these cards be placed in an envelope, in order that people not simply receive a little card.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

I'm going to Mr. Reid, and then to Monsieur Proulx and Mr. Preston. I think we can call the question after that.

Mr. Reid.

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

I don't think his request has anything to do with problems with getting people on the list. I think his concern is the sort of situation that happened in Monsieur Simard's riding, where polling stations changed.

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

It happens when the list is revised by the number of voters.

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

That's a good point. What I'm thinking of here is the case of what happened with Mr. Simard. I don't think changing the date on which the voting cards get sent out to a later date is really going to resolve the problem. The problem is that if they had an incentive not to act irresponsibly, the school board would have acted differently. I don't know if we're dealing with it at any point in the draft report, but I would have a recommendation that once you sign on, there's a penalty for withdrawing your polling location, as there would be for breaching any other contract. I think that's the way to deal with this, instead of changing the date on the cards.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Okay.

Monsieur Proulx.

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

I'm not convinced that we have to impose on Elections Canada to send these cards in an envelope. This would cost a lot more money...more complicated...more handling. I think what we should do is somewhere in our report have a recommendation addressed to Canada Post to make sure they deliver according to what they're supposed to do for the price that is being paid by Elections Canada.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We are going to be dealing with that issue later on, so let's just stick to this. This is a request to have more flexibility on this 24 days. I'm sensing that the committee is not in agreement with allowing that. The status quo is working?

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

While we're on the voter identification card, I was going to add another point, that they're not to be used as ID at the poll.

Are you going to bring that forward somewhere else?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

We're dealing with that later on.

Okay, Madame Picard, and then we're finished with this one.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Chairman, I do not know if I am on the right point. I do not know if we are discussing point 2.6. The only thing that the CEO is asking for is that the process for setting the date be somewhat loosened. At present, he is obligated to send out the cards at a set date. Often, as he stated, everything works well, but it does happen that he not receive all the information. He is asking that we give him a little bit more room to manoeuvre with regard to the date. It seems to me that we are now discussing placing the card in an envelope, and I do not believe that it is that that we should be voting on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

No, I don't want to discuss envelopes or anything to do with the voter ID card. This happens to be about whether or not we allow this date to change. It's not later than the 24th day before the election.

I'm going to call the question, that we not approve this, that we leave it the way it is. Okay?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you very much.

I think we have dealt with 2.7 in a number of ways. Let me just read the clause. I'm sure the members remember the Privacy Commissioner's information on this. It reads:

2.7 Addition of Year of Birth on Lists of Electors Used on Polling Day

The Chief Electoral Officer recommends amending section 107(2) of the Canada Elections Act to require that a voter’s year of birth be indicated in the official lists of electors for each regular and advance poll. The Chief Electoral Officer has expressed concern about discarded voter identification cards....

Isn't that an information word? It's a voter information card, my apology.

...being used by persons not eligible to vote....

We've all been through this. A date of birth could be used as a cross-reference. I think the committee is quite aware of where this is going.

Monsieur Guimond.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

I am lost. Are we still dealing with point 2.7?

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Correct.

[Michel Guimond, Bloc, Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC]

Is there consensus, in light of what the Commissioner told us yesterday? She told us that the act pertaining to her does not take precedence over the Canada Elections Act and that this responsibility was that of the legislator. I believe that we should recommend that not only the year of birth but also the date of birth appear on the list.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you very much.

Mr. Preston.

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

I agree with Monsieur Guimond that the year of birth does nothing to narrow it. It just simply narrows the amount of possible fraud, whereas the date of birth would almost completely eliminate it. Simply putting the year of birth means anybody who looks to be approximately that age could still identify themselves as that voter. It would be about as good as putting down colour of hair or colour of eyes. So date of birth sounds to me like a further solution to that. We've also discussed other ways to eliminate the fraud piece. We would not need the date of birth on the list if indeed we as voters are using photo ID.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

With respect to this particular section, everybody, I'm hearing that date of birth is acceptable. We will probably discuss later whether or not a scrutineer or who at the polls has the right to confirm and ask that person.

Mr. Proulx.

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

We are told that the Chief Electoral Officer has expressed concern about discarded voter information cards being used by persons not eligible to vote. We're doing a lot of micromanagement now, but let's tell him that these dates are not to be put on the information cards mailed out to the voters. This information should be strictly on the list.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

All right, we'll be very clear in the report, then.

Do I have agreement from the committee?

[Some hon. members]

Agreed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you.