Procedure and House Affairs Committee on May 1st, 2014

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

I'll let it go.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Let's go to NDP-40 then. Mr. Scott, it has some depth to it. Do you have time to move it and have this discussion before we break?

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

We do.

I also want to take a moment before that. There seems to be some confusion and some Twitter traffic about the previous amendment that's been voted down. NDP-39 is simply a regulation on when Elections Canada can release the polling information. It is not a ban on transmission. It is only once the information is released that it can be transmitted, but it is a ban on releasing the information until the last poll in the country closes.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Great, but it was defeated.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

It was defeated but we have some misinterpretations going on now on the Internet.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

You should be paying attention to our committee. I'll follow the Twitter.

[Craig Scott, NDP, Toronto—Danforth, ON]

Okay, on NDP-40, this probably is the last one we'll have time for. This is the first in this new part of the division in the act on the voter contact calling services. This is a section that very much ties into the March 2012 NDP House motion that all parties voted for, calling for legislation within six months to deal with the issue of deceptive communications, and phone calls in particular. We all know that specific area, along with what else was in the motion, which was the access of the Chief Electoral Officer to campaign receipts, never did get tabled until almost 18 months after it was supposed to be.

That said, it is now in the act, which was very belatedly tabled, with so many other things that we didn't expect. Generally, this section of the bill is something that we welcome. I have serious concerns, which will be reflected in the amendments, that there are some gaps that make it overly minimalist for its goals and those amendments are seeking simply to make it that much better within the terms of the system being proposed.

This amendment is specifying that “the calling service provider shall not block the display of its telephone number when contacting voters”, “at the beginning of the call, the name of the person or group on whose behalf the call is made and their party affiliation, if any,” has to be indicated, and at the end of the call, a telephone number for contacting.

It could well be that indirectly, through a rather Byzantine knock-on effect of legislation, current CRTC rules may well insert this, but there is a lot to be said for clarity in the specific legislation about these identification requirements.

Finally, this was asked for by the Chief Electoral Officer. That's why it's being proposed.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Is there further discussion on NDP-40?

Seeing none, I'll call the question.

[An hon. member]

Actually, could we have a recorded vote?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We can do that.

(Amendment negatived: nays 5; yeas 4 [See Minutes of Proceedings])

At this point we will suspend.

[Tom Lukiwski, Conservative, Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre, SK]

I have a question.

I think I know the answer, but I just want to be sure. We have a lot of paper in front of us. Is it going to be secure? Can we leave everything here as is; we don't have to pack up and bring it back?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Mr. Simms, on that same point...?

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

No. It's not on that point. It's on a different point.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

I'd say yes to what Mr. Lukiwski had to say.

Yes, Mr. Simms.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

If I'm not mistaken is my amendment coming up next?

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

No, it's a couple more away yet.

[Scott Simms, Liberal, Bonavista—Gander—Grand Falls—Windsor, NL]

Oh, I'm sorry.

Carry on.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

When we come back we'll go to a couple of other things. We did want to revisit NDP-38.1 when we come back. We'll discuss that during our time away and then we'll carry on with where we are in the stack. We will suspend.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

We're back. We'll move as forward as we can, knowing there is a looming deadline.

Ms. May, we are at PV-41. It's deemed moved, but please tell us what you think about it.

You see my lifelong time in the restaurant business; I always ask people questions the minute they start munching on anything.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

I didn't know we shared a background in the restaurant business. This is something we can discuss on another occasion.

So to give you quick service, sir, I will tell you that this amendment aims to create greater retention of the records that are being set up. I do want to let Tom know that I do support creating the retention of scripts and additional message recordings. The creation of the division on the voter contact calling services is a good step.

I would like to improve that by increasing the time that this information is retained, from one year to five years. That's the effect of my amendment.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

Thank you.

Mr. Simms, I will just let you know that your Liberal-27 amendment is identical. It's as if we're talking about you already.

Is there anything further on PV-41?

(Amendment negatived [See Minutes of Proceedings])

That is defeated, and therefore Liberal-27 also.

I am now moving on to PV-42, Ms. May

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Thank you.

We're now looking at page 41 of the bill. The amendment is to replace lines 34 to 39 in clause 76.

This is again relating to the new voter contact retention periods. This one, at PV-43, is following a recommendation that we did receive at the committee from the Chief Electoral Officer to cover live calls made by internal services of political parties or their electoral district associations.

The amendment replaces the words “third party that is a corporation or group” with the words “person or group”. This amendment will bring proposed section 348.08 in line with the matching registration counterpart that has been proposed—

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

You're one ahead of me.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

I'm one ahead? I thought you were on PV-43.

[The Chair, Conservative, Joe Preston]

No, I'm on PV-42.