Okay.
Evidence of meeting #34 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 person.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #34 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 person.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Okay. I have an amendment to work on, obviously.
In terms of your data, in terms of who has been enumerated and what we know in terms of census data, have cross-tabulations ever been done—not, obviously, right across the country—so we can establish in my riding of Ottawa Centre there are x number of citizens 18 and over and then we look at our voters list?
I see you nodding, so maybe a little report on that.
12:05 p.m.
Senior Director, Operations, Register and Geography, Elections Canada
When it comes to cross-tabulations, we've done cross-tabulations of counts. We don't have access to census data with names on it, so we haven't done those kinds of cross-tabulations.
In maintaining the national register of electors, we measure the quality of the list by comparing it to those census numbers. We look at the census counts and ask how many people should be Canadian citizens and of voting age in your riding and compare that to how many we've got. Then we publish those quality indicators with the preliminary list of electors at the start of an election, and every candidate should be getting a copy of those numbers.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
In terms of new Canadians--certainly in my riding there are a number of new Canadians--is there a coordinated process when someone receives their citizenship to register them automatically on the permanent voters list? Does that coordinating function take place currently?
12:05 p.m.
Senior Director, Operations, Register and Geography, Elections Canada
Yes. We've had an agreement since the register was established in 1997 with Citizenship and Immigration Canada. There is a tick box on the citizenship application form such as we have on the income tax form. Some 94% of new Canadians consent to that.
What happens is that a couple of years later, when they receive citizenship, that information is transmitted to us by Citizenship and Immigration Canada. Then those people are added to the national list.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Is there a follow-up for those who don't respond, if someone doesn't tick it off? Presumably someone has a list of the people who didn't respond.
12:05 p.m.
Senior Director, Operations, Register and Geography, Elections Canada
Because they haven't consented to the transfer of that information, we don't get it.
12:05 p.m.
NDP
Paul Dewar NDP Ottawa Centre, ON
Okay.
There are a number of my constituents who, for all sorts of reasons--and I'm sure it's provided as an option for them--might not access that. I'm wondering, as an idea, if there is a way to sort out the data of those who haven't been back to you, just to say, “By the way, do you know this is something that would be an option for you, or a right for you, and have you considered it?”
12:05 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I don't think we've considered it. Perhaps we could approach Citizenship and Immigration and ask--perhaps you wish to add something else--ask them to write to the people who said no. We cannot know who said no.
12:05 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
They cannot tell us who said no; otherwise, they're giving us data that people don't want us to have. We don't know who they are.
Perhaps we could ask them to please write to those people again. That is something.
I don't know if we've considered that, Rennie.
12:05 p.m.
Senior Director, Operations, Register and Geography, Elections Canada
I don't think we have.
There is also the option for these electors, just as any other elector, to tick the yes box on their income tax form. Once we have that information, we could write to them, and if they confirm their citizenship, we could add them.
Of course with the proposed legislation, with the additional tick box for confirming citizenship, we would be able to add them directly.
12:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Gary Goodyear
Thank you very much.
Colleagues, we're now entering our third round. I'll just remind members that we're now down to three-minute rounds.
Madam Redman, please.
12:05 p.m.
Liberal
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have two quick issues.
Mr. Kingsley, you asked us, on page 8, to react to the use of personalized cheques as well as utility and tax assessments as proof of identity and residence. That seems like a prudent thing to consider for identification. I'm just wondering, do you foresee any downside to that in any way?
With respect to my second question, you also talked about how it will be somewhat of a challenge to make voters aware that they are now going to need two pieces of ID. Has anyone in your shop turned their mind to a strategic communications plan about how we would comprehensively get this message out to Canadians?
12:10 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
With respect to the communications plan, no detailed plan has been prepared. We're waiting for third reading in the House, and then we would do detailed plans.
We have conceptualized that this is something we would have to do as soon as the legislation is passed and then do again when the election is on, because Canadians have a way of not tuning in until the very last minute. There would have to be sensitization to what will be required. And there has to be simplification. Make it clear that people understand, simply, what it is. Of course we would have to amend all our tools, where we inform Canadians of what is required for them to vote. I think we can do it, but it will require some effort.
On the first question, I do not foresee a downside to using these. I can only see that some people may eventually think that some people are fraudulently producing these things. However, with the basic fact that we would be maintaining the trust in the Canadian electors through this system, I think we would be assured that this is not happening on any kind of a scale.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
If I had a piece of photo ID that maybe had a postal code on it, not my address, and a utility bill saying I am at a certain address, that would to me seem to fill out the whole picture.
12:10 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Having a picture ID with a postal code is very difficult, because that's practically the same as an address. Maintaining that is a problem.
But certainly the idea of photo ID with the name, the person can look at the card and look at the person and say the odds are 95% that this is the same person. To me, that would carry the day.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
Karen Redman Liberal Kitchener Centre, ON
Sir, I thought you said earlier that one of the problems was the fact that some drivers licences had postal codes and not actual addresses. I would see this as maybe a way to ameliorate that.
12:10 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I think I said postal box address.
12:10 p.m.
Liberal
12:10 p.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Yes, and therefore they cannot establish residence with that.
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
12:10 p.m.
Conservative
Tom Lukiwski Conservative Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK
Okay, that's a tough question for you to answer in three minutes.
We've heard a lot of testimony about the homeless and the difficulties in enfranchising them to vote, because many of them don't have pieces of identification, photo or otherwise.
One of the motions we brought forward was to encourage your office to target enumeration in areas of high homelessness. But even with that, I foresee a lot of problems, because how do you determine, if someone has no identification, that he or she is even a Canadian citizen? And the level of transiency is so high that they may not be there anyway after you enumerate them.
I'd just like general commentary from you. I don't think that anything we could ever find would be a perfect system to make sure that everyone entitled to vote actually gets to vote, because someone isn't able to demonstrate that they're eligible. I'd like to have your comments, sir, if I could, in the limited time we have left, as to how you would approach the situation to try to ensure that the homeless would have as much ability as any other citizens to cast their ballot.