Evidence of meeting #18 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 confidence.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:45 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
No. As a matter of fact, your main problem during the elections is your lack of money to advertise outside of the electoral period. However, if you were to find lots of money, we would see if this is a serious problem or not.
12:45 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Forgive me to come back to the same issue, Mr. Kingsley, but I want to understand something.
If the election were to be held on October 19, Day 31 would be September 18, would it not?
12:45 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
You've made the recommendation to postpone the annual distribution of electoral lists by one month, that is to say from October 15 to November 15. In our report, we say that the Chief Electoral Officer suggests November 15 because of the many changes of address that happen over the summer and which, in many cases, are not reported before September or October, which does not leave enough time for them to be included in the electoral lists.
With Day 31, if the elections were held on October 19, that would be doable. So, why did you recommend a postponement to November 15?
In fact, I know that all the lists are completely messed up and would not include the addresses changed during the summer. That's what happens during most election campaigns. We seem to be impatient and angry but we know that this is what happens.
12:50 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Oh, you know the tune and the words.
During an election campaign, Mr. Chairman, Elections Canada would obviously make special efforts to provide lists that would be as up-to-date as possible. Knowing the precise date of the election would be useful since we could make special efforts to collect more information.
I repeat that we have frequent discussions with the Chief Electoral Officer of Québec--we have more discussions with him than with any other--about updating the lists and that we always try to update them as soon as possible.
However, if you wish, I could send you additional written explanations about what we are going to do to make sure that the system is effective.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Mr. Guimond, would you request that the witness get back to us in writing?
12:50 p.m.
Bloc
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
12:50 p.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Thank you.
I have a question about byelections and how this fits in.
My first question is this. Not to a dime, but what is a guesstimate on how much a byelection costs? If we look at fixed election dates, and if we look at byelections and how many have occurred within the last 18 months and the last 20 years, is there an argument that this would be a cost saving? How would byelections fit into this rubric?
My final question would be this. We've seen the example in B.C. Have you had an opportunity to do an evaluation of their experience? Presumably we would be doing the same in Ontario. Have you had a chance to talk to your colleagues in B.C. to find out what their experience has been?
12:50 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
With respect to the latter question, Mr. Chairman, the gathering of chief electoral officers in the Yukon last year--not this year--dealt specifically with this. My colleague Harry Neufeld reported back, and we had a good discussion about advantages and some disadvantages of fixed-date elections. We've taken that into account in what I've presented to this committee, so we're well aware of that.
We're in discussion with Ontario as well in terms of how they're going about getting organized for a fixed election date. They are doing what I was alluding to in my reply to Mr. Guimond, which is that they are doing things with the register that you don't do year in and year out because you know that something is going to happen at a particular moment. It allows you to do that without throwing the money away unnecessarily. That's what I was trying to answer, somewhat inadequately, to Mr. Guimond.
With respect to byelections, I don't see any need to change the present system. To be honest with you, byelections are not a problem for Elections Canada now. They can be turned around in no time flat. The last time I looked, it was about $500,000 to $600,000 for a byelection.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Thank you very much, Mr. Dewar. You do have one minute left, if you wish.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Monsieur Guimond, given the generosity of the committee to Mrs. Redman's request, we will grant you the same.
12:50 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Do you want me to ask on bended knees, Mr. Chairman?
Mr. Kingsley, you were supposed to give us an answer about page 32 of our report aimed at improving the integrity of the electoral process. We wanted to know if the practice of bingo cards was allowed under the Elections Act of Canada. I would like to know when you will give us that answer and how.
If you decide that it's allowed, will there have to be an amendment to the legislation or only an administrative amendment? That question is addressed to you.
I want to come back to the question I put to the Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. The government is supposed to answer the report we tabled in June before October 20. Does the government intend to answer before October 20? If so, will that answer include changes to the legislation which are not included in Bill C-16? The aim of Bill C-16 is to implement fixed election dates. However, if we wanted to improve other aspects of the elections process, would there have to be another Bill?
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
I believe I could probably address that, but Mr. Kingsley, you're certainly welcome to.
This is future business, and there will be an answer coming from the government; it's on our agenda.
Did you want to respond as well, Mr. Kingsley? Please go ahead.
12:55 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Mr. Chairman, I would like to answer that question. I will provide you with a written answer. The work has begun but I can't...
12:55 p.m.
Bloc
12:55 p.m.
Bloc
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Thank you, colleagues, and a special thanks to our witnesses and experts this morning.
Mr. Kingsley, we very much appreciate your coming on short notice and giving your time. I want to thank you additionally for coming out at 11 o'clock. We did anticipate that perhaps the first part of the meeting would be shorter. As that didn't turn out, I want to thank you sincerely for your indulgence.
Members, this is a public meeting, and I need five minutes of your time to discuss future business.
12:55 p.m.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I want to thank the committee for allowing me to put you my third and last question to the Chief Electoral Officer.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
It was indeed our pleasure. Not only was it a pleasure, Mr. Guimond, it was extremely enlightening. We will extend that courtesy as often as we possibly can.
We need to discuss a little future business.
Thank you again, Mr. Kingsley. We appreciate your coming.
Colleagues, we are going to discuss what is coming up in the next three meetings. I'm asking the committee whether you want to stay public or go closed. We're going to discuss what is coming up on Thursday, next Tuesday, and next--
