Evidence of meeting #24 for Procedure and House Affairs in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was candidate.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:55 a.m.
Senior General Counsel and Senior Director, Legal Services, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
You will have to prove, with some document, that you are known publicly under that nickname.
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NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
What if I bring in a letter from my brother?
Well, I'm just pointing out the kind of.... Hey, listen, I'm not nearly as clever as some of them who are going to go at this.
11:55 a.m.
Senior General Counsel and Senior Director, Legal Services, Office of the Chief Electoral Officer
The difficulty is that some people in good faith are of course known under a name that is different from their actual name. It would be difficult to require them to abandon the name that they are well known under as they run for candidacy.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Okay. The discussions on that will be interesting.
On vouching, very quickly, could I have what happens currently, what you want to move to, and the rationale? I have some concerns.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
The current system only allows for an elector in the same polling division to vouch for another elector in the same polling division, and both have to swear an oath. We're proposing to allow an elector to vouch for all members of their family who live at the same address. So if a father shows up with two children of voting age, the father could vouch for both his children. That's the extent of the amendment.
11:55 a.m.
NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Right now, if you're a neighbour, you're on the electoral list, and you're okay, you can vouch for Bob Smith who just moved in and isn't on the list. Are you now suggesting that I could also vouch for anybody who lives in that household?
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
No, I mean in your household. You could vouch for your wife and your children--whoever lives in your household and is a member of your family.
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NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
Is there any concern about potential abuse again? If you had a case of someone committing a fraud, it's not just one vote it's affecting now; you could have up to 10 or 12 people in a family in a home, theoretically.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
As far as family members, the voucher needs to provide documents to vouch. So if there is something suspicious we could certainly follow through afterwards.
I would point out to the committee that this is being used in B.C. provincial elections and it hasn't raised any major concerns. What we're trying to address now is that the vouching provisions are quite restrictive. I remember receiving a complaint from a lady. She accompanied her parents to vote and could only vouch for either her mother or her father. She was quite upset about it. So we're trying to address these kinds of situations.
The proposal here is still restricted. There are two requirements: they have to be a member of your family, of the voucher; and they have to reside at the same address.
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NDP
David Christopherson NDP Hamilton Centre, ON
How do you know they're members of the same family if they have different names?
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NDP
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
I guess at some point the electoral official may try to validate a little bit more.
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Conservative
The Chair Conservative Joe Preston
Thank you.
We'll move to our five-minute round. If you can, please share time with one of your friends. I'd like all of the members at the table to have a chance to ask questions if they would like to.
Monsieur Proulx, you're up.
11:55 a.m.
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Mayrand, I'd like to thank you and your entire team for being here today.
Section 110 deals with the voters' list and the information which cannot be shared. I found your answer rather weak on that question. Yet the situation couldn't be clearer: the voters' list belongs to the member of Parliament, and his or her organization, and cannot be shared with anyone else, whether we're talking about provincial, municipal, local, school or any other officials.
11:55 a.m.
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Yes, I agree. It can only be used for those purposes set out in the Canada Elections Act.
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Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you.
Before I ask more detailed questions, could you update us on the Conservative in and out scandal? What is the status of that? There was a decision, an appeal and an appeal of the appeal. What is the current status of that case, Mr. Mayrand?
Noon
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
As I indicated earlier in response to another question, there's a civil case where there's been an appeal by both parties. Those appeals will be heard in the Federal Court of Appeal at the end of November.
As to the investigative matter, it is publicly known that the file is now with the DPP. The DPP is reviewing the file and we'll see what takes place.
Noon
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
Thank you.
Some of your suggestions for amending the regulations are excellent, in my opinion. Some of the others I find less impressive, however.
One of your suggestions is that the names of political staff now be provided to you by the riding associations or registered parties, rather than by candidates. Why?
Noon
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
As I have stated in previous reports and in my testimony, we are having more and more trouble recruiting staff. There are fewer and fewer people being referred by the candidates. In the last election, barely one third of election staff had been referred by candidates across Canada. In Western Canada, for example, it was 2% in Alberta and 3% in British Columbia. That puts returning officers in a very difficult position because, under the current provisions, they are required to wait until the 17th day before voting day to start appointing and training the 650 employees available to them.
Noon
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
For you, it is actually a way of saving time, in the sense that they--
Noon
Liberal
Marcel Proulx Liberal Hull—Aylmer, QC
The idea is not to tell candidates they don't have enough staff, but rather, to give the parties and riding associations an additional opportunity to refer people to you.
Noon
Chief Electoral Officer, Elections Canada
Yes, and that's the reason we refer these people. We consulted the parties about this and they seemed to be pretty much in agreement.