Procedure and House Affairs Committee on Dec. 7th, 2006

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

My preliminary assessment would be those two pieces of ID would not satisfy the present requirement as proposed in the bill. Certainly the idea of accepting those two pieces of ID would fit with what I proposed as an alternative. We have listed student ID cards on our list and given the attributes of them. I don't think many of them have photographs.

[A voice]

They do.

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

Okay, yes they do. Then it would be very useful.

Public transportation cards, some of them have photos, others don't, but the combination of the two might be something.

With respect to students, if they are in residence, a document from an authority of the institution provided separately to electoral authorities would certainly attest to their residence to my satisfaction.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Thank you very much.

Again, we went over a little on that, but I think we're doing fairly well.

Madam Picard, I had your name first, but you're going to offer your time.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

I will turn the floor over to my colleague.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

With pleasure.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Good morning, Mr. Kingsley. My name is Luc Malo and I am the member of Parliament for Verchères—Les Patriotes. I took over from Stéphane Bergeron.

I would like to continue along the same lines as Mr. Reid. It is true that at the moment students can either vote at their place of residence, if they are still living with their parents, or in the place where they are attending university. These are often two different places. So students can decide for themselves where it will be easier for them to vote on polling day.

If proof of address is required, will students with a driver's licence that shows their permanent residential address, rather than their address when they are at school, nevertheless be able to vote where they go to school?

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

As you mentioned, in federal elections, it is the residential address that matters, not the elector's domicile. The concept is different from the provisions in the Quebec legislation. The residence is in fact the place where people say they live. Students are entitled to say that their residential address is that of their parents, and that is where they live.

The problem you mentioned can be solved easily. As I was saying to Mr. Reid, if the student's name is on a list prepared by the university, Elections Canada accepts that and would accept that as proof of residence in that location in order to facilitate things tremendously for students who wish to proceed in this way.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

So proof of residence would be issued by the university or college?

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

That would be acceptable proof. There might be some other documents as well, depending on the lists that the committee accepts. For example, a letter containing a bill, a lease or insurance addressed to the person at that address. The person may have his or her driver's licence in one place, but proof of insurance in the place where they are going to school. That would become an acceptable document, as I was saying earlier. So, there is a variety of documents that could be used to prove a person's residential address, for purposes of registration.

If you maintain this requirement for voting itself, provision would have to be made that this is also an acceptable document on the list of documents suggested to the committee.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

If I understand correctly, the objective is therefore to establish a long list of documents.

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

The objective would be to establish a long list, but a list that is also credible and acceptable as well. That is what you are seeking to do here. I tried to tell you that it was not easy, and that we have to expect that this could be a problem for average Canadians who have never had to do this before a federal election. That is why the list must be as long as possible, as you say, but it must also be credible, in order to satisfy you as representatives of the people.

So I tried to combine these two aspects in my presentation.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

I would like to go back to the beginning of your presentation, if I may. You referred to the by-elections in London North Centre and Repentigny, and you said that Canada Post helped recover the voter information cards.

What is done with these cards? I know that Canada Post does not offer "recovery" services everywhere. Is Elections Canada concerned about recovering the documents rather than having them thrown in the garbage?

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

The objective was to ensure that where letter carriers found a package of cards in a garbage can, for example, the day after they were delivered, they would recover them and take them back to the postmaster at the place of work. We had taken the necessary steps to have them sent to the returning officer.

That is what I discussed with Ms. Greene when I met with her recently, and she is prepared to have all cards recovered throughout the country, and to send them to the returning officers. Of course, this will not necessarily work 100% of the time, but I know Ms. Greene well enough to know that we will be able to recover 95% of these cards.

[Luc Malo, Bloc, Verchères—Les Patriotes, QC]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, Conservative, Gary Goodyear]

Madam Picard.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Kingsley, will the fact that these cards are recovered by the postmaster make it possible to get information about the elector to whom the card was delivered but who does not have the card? Could there be information provided about the fact that an elector has moved? What are you going to do with these cards you recover?

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

At this point, it is difficult to determine exactly who threw the card in the garbage. We need to look into this further. We could also do some studies and write to these people to ask them why they threw their card away. There may be some people who could do some door-to-door work for this purpose. There were not all that many of these cards found. That is perhaps something we could do to get a better understanding about why this is happening. I think your question is extremely relevant, and we will follow up on it. I will come back to the committee to let you know how we can explore this matter further.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Very well.

Have you looked at the study on the so-called bingo cards?

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

Yes, I have already replied to the committee in this regard with respect to the three possibilities it suggested.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Mr. Blanchet made a presentation a few weeks ago so that my colleagues on the committee would have a very good understanding of how the cards work. Have you seen what he had to say?

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

Yes. I met with Marcel, whom I know very well. He's a good friend. I am very aware of the way the system works in Quebec now. They operate under the procedures set out in the legislation—with two paid individuals. He made a recommendation in which he said that he could make the system work with one salaried person. Personally, I told you that I could do it with one individual. It would cost $10 million for the whole country. If there were two people, it would cost twice as much.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

Do you not think that this work could be done by the polling clerk, who assists the deputy returning officer?

[Jean-Pierre Kingsley]

Mr. Blanchet hesitated to say that he could do that, and he is the only one who has this type of experience. So I do not intend to make a commitment that goes beyond what he has committed to do.

[Pauline Picard, Bloc, Drummond, QC]

I see. Thank you very much.