Procedure and House Affairs committee  It's all about we the Conservative Party and the Prime Minister's Office, much like the unfair elections act. There was no sense of, gee whiz, this is about democracy here in Canada so we should be working with Elections Canada and we should be working with other political entities, and with many different stakeholders who love and have a strong passion for democracy in our country.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Reid seems to be quite enamoured with this legislation, as far as we're concerned, really this is just the unfair elections act, part 2. There's nothing here, in our view, that helps. In fact, the Chief Electoral Officer started out: It is clear that these new rules will make it harder for electors abroad to vote.

Procedure and House Affairs committee  Remember that fellow, the one whom the government didn't consult when they brought all the changes to the “unfair elections act”. He came back to talk about Bill C-50, and one of the things that's been missed, and I don't think it was picked up in the public domain through the media, is that the change in clause 4 of Bill C-50 adds proposed paragraph 143(2.11)(b) to the Canada Elections Act.

Citizen Voting Act  There are all sorts of things that have actually not registered yet on the radar screen of the media or citizens, and one of the reasons the Conservative government does not want the bill fully debated is exactly that. When Canadians come to realize that it is step two after the former unfair elections act, they will resist, along with the official opposition.

Democratic Reform  Mr. Speaker, the inevitable has happened. The Conservatives' unfair elections act is being challenged in court. A majority of experts, citizen groups and even some Conservative politicians have strongly condemned this law, which would deprive some citizens of their right to vote.

Anti-terrorism Act, 2015  I was on people's doorsteps this weekend, and they are very concerned. We hope they will rise up and fight, like they did against the unfair elections act, to try to get the government to actually see why all of these former prime ministers and supreme court justices just might be onto something. The government will tell us not to worry, that lawful advocacy protest and dissent does not matter, that the act will not affect dissent.

Democratic Reform  Speaker, nearly a year ago, we asked the Minister of State for Democratic Reform if he had consulted the Chief Electoral Officer about his unfair elections act. He said he did, but he did not. Now we have another bill before us that is violating Canadians' right to vote. Did the minister actually consult Elections Canada this time?

Citizen Voting Act  We have a bill, and it is important that Canadians understand that parliamentarians have been attempting to deal with this issue in a manner that reflects the values of Canadian society, which is that if an individual is a citizen in Canada, regardless of where they live, they have the right to vote. The government will say, as it did in earlier debates around its unfair elections act, that it is making things simpler and streamlining the system. In fact, we know that is not the case. One would think that when we are faced with the reality of plummeting voting rates in liberal democracies, including Canada, that we would, as parliamentarians, be thinking about ways in which we help facilitate and invite Canadian citizens to participate more fully in the electoral process.

Citizen Voting Act  Speaker, right now, citizens of France living overseas can vote electronically, and Americans living abroad can vote by email. Bill C-23, the unfair elections act, contains a provision that stipulates that the Chief Electoral Officer of Canada must conduct a pilot project or test on electronic voting but that he must obtain the consent of the entire House of Commons and the Senate—not just one committee, but the entire Senate.

Citizen Voting Act  Some here might have had a chance to read the piece that came out today in the National Post, where I make it very clear that I do believe—this sounds like how I started the debate on Bill C-23, what we call “the unfair elections act”—that the effect, at minimum, of these changes in Bill C-50 would voter suppression of citizens living abroad, and something that I am not sure the minister is fully aware of, namely, that it could create chaos with voting in Canada, because of the changes to a section that would prohibit the Chief Electoral Officer from authorizing any use of ID that basically does not have its origin Canada.

Business of Supply  The Conservatives are also changing the political financing rules in their favour. The unfair elections act would increase the limit for individual contributions from $1,200 to $1,500. That would favour the Conservatives, who tend to receive bigger contributions. The unfair elections act would also allow candidates to contribute up to $5,000 to their own campaigns and leadership candidates to contribute up to $25,000 for their own campaigns, which, once again, would give an advantage to the wealthy candidates the Conservative Party attracts.

Energy Safety and Security Act  In particular, he was talking about the inability of the current government to consult Canadians when it brought forward the unfair elections act. We heard it throughout the day yesterday and throughout the discussions on the unfair elections act, and clearly, the government had not consulted Canadians when it brought forward the unfair elections act.

Business of Supply  There is no doubt that what is happening on the unfair elections act is a travesty. We are seeing this every day in the House of Commons. The Leader of the Opposition, the member for Outremont, has time after time raised questions about how the Conservative government has approached trying to ram through these changes through the unfair elections act.

Business of Supply  However, to me, it seems that I am only scratching the surface every time I do this, because there is so much more to discuss. I am surprised, because when we had the Fair Elections Act, or unfair elections act, whatever members want to call it, when the minister brought that to the House and we passed it, I remember NDP members saying, unequivocally, that the one thing they did not like was the fact that it was overly prescriptive.

Privilege  We are at the point in the life cycle of the current Conservative government where it seems to be out of gas and spinning its wheels. Bill C-23, the unfair elections act, is creating solutions to problems in our voting system that do not exist, when the real problems of our electoral system have often been the ones the Conservatives have perpetrated on the Canadian public.