Procedure and House Affairs committee  So we are on the same wavelength here. On page 44, you talk about the voter identification card. There is reference to the fact that it could be considered one of the authorized pieces of ID. I have many reservations about that, and I will tell you why. From the very beginning, I have had problems with the famous permanent list, because I do not think it is accurate enough.

Canada Elections Act  The committee suggested this to the government, and we are acting on it and being consistent with it. The system that we have in place is a reasonable one. If someone has the voter identification card that is mailed out, they can present that. If they do not have the voter identification card, they can present some sort of government issued identification. If they do not have that, two pieces of identification, establishing who they are, is required.

Canada Elections Act  Very simply it could occur because someone who wished to impersonate or fraudulently vote in an election could pick up a voter identification card. These are the cards that are sent out to Canadians by Canada Post with their name and address indicating that they are to vote at a certain polling station or certain location in their riding.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Okay, that was one question. I have one last thing on the voter identification cards. They are first-class mail. We pay an awful lot of money to send them out to everybody in this country who's a registered voter. And as we've seen, there are stacks of them that may collect.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I wanted to ask in what size font we will be putting on the voter ID card that this is not identification. We've had many instances in this committee when we talked about voter identification cards going out and people going to the polls and using them as identification. Obviously, now, if there's a change in identification, they'll have to show something else. You said you were talking to Canada Post, or attempting to talk to Canada Post, about the security of the cards.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  While we're on the voter identification card, I was going to add another point, that they're not to be used as ID at the poll. Are you going to bring that forward somewhere else?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  It reads: 2.7 Addition of Year of Birth on Lists of Electors Used on Polling Day The Chief Electoral Officer recommends amending section 107(2) of the Canada Elections Act to require that a voter’s year of birth be indicated in the official lists of electors for each regular and advance poll. The Chief Electoral Officer has expressed concern about discarded voter identification cards.... Isn't that an information word? It's a voter information card, my apology. ...being used by persons not eligible to vote.... We've all been through this. A date of birth could be used as a cross-reference.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  I don't want to take up the time of the committee, but while we're on voter identification cards I would like a comment on Canada Post's handling of the voter information card. We've heard from various folks that these voter information cards are dumped en masse in apartment buildings.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  The committee has heard of cases where voters are using magazine subscriptions, or magazines with their addresses on them. We've heard that the voter information card is used as a voter identification card. What means are available to the deputy returning officer to not only prove the individual is that individual, but that the individual in fact has the right to vote in terms of citizenship?

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We made it very clear again at the 2006 general election that the voter information card is a voter information card, not a voter identification card.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  We recommend that an effective process be established by Elections Canada and that the political parties be consulted with regard to that process. The next issue is voter identification cards, Mr. Chair. The misuse of voter information cards is quite simply out of control. We have reports of neighbourhoods where individual single-family dwelling mailboxes, not apartments, were systematically de-mailed of such cards, and with the greatest of respect to the Chief Electoral Officer when he appeared before you in April, he mischaracterized the entire problem.